School Technology Center Expected to Be Eye-Opener

From the outside, it looks like a huge tan box with blue stripes.

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But inside, there are worlds of possibilities waiting to be discovered by students at Fillmore Middle School.

It is the new Exploration and Technology Center, which will offer sixth- through eighth-grade students a chance to learn everything from how to become an architect to how to fly an airplane.

About 550 youngsters will begin attending classes at the 7,200-square-foot building by the first week of September. This will be the first time students at one of the county’s poorest middle schools have been able to use high-tech equipment, including a robot, a flight simulator and computers with access to the Internet.

“I think it’s really cool, and I can’t wait to begin classes there,” said seventh-grader Brian Ramirez. “I used to think that they [school officials] were joking about it. Now I know they weren’t.”

The building is the product of two years of intense work by district officials and the community--first to raise the necessary funds and then to build it as cheaply as possible, said District Supt. Mario Contini.

“This has been the end of a long and arduous project,” Contini said. “And it’s one of the best things that our district ever did.”

The project was born out of a need to increase classroom spaces for a growing number of students, Contini said. Initially, district officials planned to build classrooms housing programs in home economics and carpentry.

But as the project went into full swing, officials decided they needed more.

“We felt that our kids need to catch up with technology,” Contini said, adding that the district--which serves about 3,500 students from kindergarten to high school--is one of the poorest in the county. “This is a big thing for us.”

To keep costs low, officials asked corporations to donate items such as computers and monitors. Some equipment was purchased at military surplus stores, Contini said.

Beginning in early September, each student at the middle school will take a weeklong course at the center.

The center has 34 computer workstations, including a video and camera station in which students will produce a 15-minute news segment. Another station will teach about lasers and how sound and images travel.

Students will be introduced to engineering by building a makeshift bridge and designing a mock car.

Through the Internet, youngsters will be able to communicate with employees at a local bank and learn about checking and savings accounts.

“The computer is the teacher in this type of class,” said Luanne Perez, one of the two instructors at the center. “Students will be following the computer’s instructions. My role is that of a facilitator.”

Contini said his goal is to expand the program until it is accessible to all students in the district. Middle school students received priority because that’s the age when youngsters need to have a wide range of options, he said.

“We want to get their toes into a series of different things so they can have more choices in life,” Contini said. “We want to give them a chance to be on equal grounds with students in other districts.”