Tech Club at Our Lady of Lourdes School boots up its fourth year

Courtesy of Our Lady of Lourdes School

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SALT LAKE CITY — Three-fifteen on a Wednesday: Nearly a dozen students huddle in groups around the STEAM room tables, each with a pile of circuit boards, cables, metal and plastic enclosures, drills, and specialized tools. They are debating what they will create this academic year from all of it.

The students are part of Our Lady of Lourdes School’s Tech Club, which meets every week after school for about an hour to decommission family-donated, unwanted electronics and transform into upcycled projects.

Organized by Maestro De Astis, the 5th – 8th grade technology teacher, the lab extends in-class STEAM instruction toward a more student-driven, hands-on experience. It takes nearly an entire academic year to realize a project from the time a theme is agreed upon. Donations must be gathered, dismantled, categorized and identified as appropriate for the project. Through this process, students discover the innards of everyday electronics – what they are made of, how they are put together, and how they work. Some participants use pliers, cutters, hammers, drills, jigsaws, and specialized electronic tools for the first time.

Tech Club starts with De Astis training participants in the basics of setup, maintenance, update, tweak, and troubleshooting technology throughout the school. The students themselves solve many issues. Their knowledge keeps teachers not only up and running, but also happy and ready to instruct with operational technology such as supplying printers with paper and toner, multimedia devices with the proper connections, the correct input selected on displays, and a working Wi-Fi connection! When needed, Tech Lab students also prepare the STEAM room for other students prior to instruction such as DIBELS testing taking place in the STEAM room.

“Tech Lab is an opportunity for those students wanting to learn more about tech, above and beyond what they are exposed to in a regular class,” Maestro De Astis said. “They participate not because of the extra credit they gain; it’s because they recognize that it satisfies their curiosity about technology and how it works. Students return to Tech Lab year after year – even experienced 8th graders!”

Previous year’s projects include an interpretation of Jesus on the Cross made from circuit boards named ‘Christ the Tech,’ (one version of this cross was presented to Bishop Oscar A. Solis at his installation) and a life-sized robot interpretation named ‘Elvira.’

Last year’s creation is a five-foot replica of the school’s logo made of various components that is installed in the school gym. To see, visit: https://www.facebook.com/lourdesschool.

“I love being in Tech Club,” said eighth-grader Stella Sharp. “It helps me to understand further what we learn in class.”  

Eighth-grader Rocco Martinez commented, “It’s fun to use my creative side with the tasks and projects we do in Tech Club.”

The rumor is that this year’s Tech Lab group wants to create a companion robot for Elvira; Maestro may have to re-boot!

Courtesy of Our Lady of Lourdes School