Summer 2018 Lab Activities

The Laptop Upcycle team is excited to provide a number of educational and volunteer opportunities to get you or your young adult out of the house and engaged in our project to provide laptops to kids in Montclair that need them. As our student “gets” of laptops have increased, our mission of closing the technology gap for kids in our schools requires a larger group of passionate volunteers who understand technology and can help us repair and renovate the donations we receive so we can get them out to students. We hope to train new volunteers, build the team, and have fun doing it.

For students in the Montclair Public Schools, we offer community service hours that can be applied towards your school requirement. You’ll also learn some tech and have an opportunity to share what you know or get involved in other areas of the project. Each of these activities will be held in our lab in the United Way building (60 South Fullerton Ave, lower level) in Montclair. We’re next door to the library, so it’s easy to walk or bike to. 

The Summer program will run from July 9, 2018 until August 3, 2018. Please see each project area below for specific days and times.

Laptop Upcycles Introduction to Computing Class

This 4 week class meets Monday through Friday from 10:00 AM until Noon in the lab (July 9 – August 3). The class has been created and will be run by two Laptop Upcycle interns from last Summer, Ethan Che and Alex Rovalino. In addition to helping us as interns for the last year and a half, they are rising seniors at Glen Ridge High School. The course will present will the basics of computers and coding with the final goal of creating an application that Laptop Upcycle will use to track and manage its inventory. Topics will include Scratch, Java, Android Studio. This is not only a course, but also an internship opportunity. As such, we expect that those who attend be hard, diligent workers. Ideally, those who take the class this Summer will follow in Ethan & Alex’s footsteps and give back to Laptop Upcycle in the future.

Middle and high school students will be accepted. So, be prepared to learn, work, and have fun! Board members Jon Bonesteel, Mike Brown, and Mark Zbucki will be rotating as the official Laptop Upcycle proctors of the class. Please note that space in this class is very limited. There is no fee for this class, but donations to Laptop Upcycle to defray the cost are certainly accepted.

Laptop Upcycle Laptop Basics and Repair Intern Sessions

Each day after the Introduction to Computing class finishes, the lab will remain open for no more than 90 minutes and volunteers will work on our laptop stock. This Summer we have been lucky to receive two large donations, but we need techies to test, repair, and install systems on them. Our team will assist and coordinate volunteers on this task. If you want to learn how laptops work and at the same time get them ready for students in the Fall, join us! We will post an event each day on our Laptop Upcycle Volunteer facebook group so you will know if the day is “on”. Please sign up for the event there so we know how many to expect.

Laptop Upcycle Ad Hoc Technology Meetups

The team will also offer ad hoc technology meetups during this time frame as scheduling allows. Topics will include 3d printing, soldering with basic circuits, and Raspberry Pi projects. For these special classes, we ask that you join our meetup group here (link will be added) for announcements.