Students, grads get technical for internship program

Interns refurbish 68K computers for Duval County school district

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Have you ever wondered who's behind upgrading and refurbishing all of the computers in local schools?

This year, some Duval County students and recent graduates, who are part of a paid summer internship program, have made it their job to get those computers ready for the new school year.

"Right now, we are imaging the last few computers that we have,” said Lindsay Lugo, a recent high school graduate who was refreshing computers at Atlantic Coast High. "At first we were confused. There were so many steps. We were overwhelmed. Now it's just a breeze."

She's one of about 115 recent graduates and current students working with Emtek, an IT consulting company, to refurbish and refresh more than 68,000 computers for the upcoming school year.

The students are divided into teams. One sanitizes and cleans all of the computers inside and out.

"As well as checking for keys that are missing or cracked screens,” Emtek's Michael Marino said.

Computer techs with the school district help students fix the problems. Then it's time to put on the gloves as the next team cleans out the data, catching any viruses and upgrading the system.

"It's very time-consuming,” Cody Serban said.

Each computer takes more than two hours to complete. They're not only learning about tech terms but getting hands-on business experience and even finding a way to get the job done efficiently.

"I usually do it in a group so it doesn't take a lot of time,” Lugo said. “We try to use our time wisely."

"It's been a great experience with teamwork because there's six of us plus our supervisor,” Serban said. “We're all like friends now, and we get along and we help each other."

The school district said it's saving a lot of money partnering with Emtek, which oversees the student interns and trained supervisors.