Students build computers

School of Mines and Technology freshman mentors Charles Bush (left) and Kevin Israel confer while Lamont Cook peers into the case of the computer he's building. PHOTOS BY VICKY WICKS In a classroom at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, six Central High School students came together on Saturday, Nov. 1, for the first of four sessions to learn how to build computers.

At first they seemed a bit apprehensive, quiet but alert. After some initial socializing and an opening prayer song performed by Scott Means, prevention facilitator, and three members of the North Junior High drum group, the six students took seats in cubicles and waited for someone to tell them how to begin.

Beside their desks were computer components still packed in boxes.

Royia Decker, coordinator of the American Indian Science and Engineering Program (AISEP) at Tech, said she deliberately left the computer parts in boxes "so it would be like Christmas" for the students.

"I think it's a little overwhelming when they walk in and see this pile of boxes," Decker said. But by the end of the first session, she said, the kids discovered how everything fit together.

Robin White Horse, a freshman at Central High School, is one of the students building computers at School of Mines and Technology Helping the students were two Mines freshmen, Kevin Israel and Charles Bush, who were chosen from a field of SDSMT job applicants.

The six high school students - Lamont Cook, John Gorr, Andraya Hopkins, Levi Lange, Robin White Horse, and Kayla Wilson - also had to apply to be included in this project.

Decker said the program is open to Native American students who have good grades and have taken the math and science classes necessary for them to go on to complete trigonometry, chemistry and physics. She said writing an essay is part of the application process.

This semester's students are from Central, but future groups could include kids from other schools in the city or even across the state, Decker said.

Learning to build a computer is the first step in the program, but benefits continue on, said Karen Whitehead, provost and vice president for academic affairs at SDSMT.

Before computer building started, this North Middle School drum group performed a prayer song. Shown from left are Joseph Lends His Horse, 8th grade; Jesse Adair, 6th grade, prevention facilitator Scott Means, and Montel Olivera, 7th grade. After computers are constructed, Bush and Israel will lead the students through tests to make sure the computers operate and then do projects with geographic information software and computer aided design software, she said.

The Mines mentors will track the high school students' academic progress, Whitehead said, and if participants complete the required advanced science and math courses and serve as mentors to future AISEP students, they will get one of the computers for themselves.

"The idea is to keep them involved," Whitehead said. "Our two instructors, after these four builds are over, will still work with these students and their math and science teachers to make sure that they keep on track and actually are academically successful."

Whitehead said the Indigenous Alliance, of which AISEP is part, originated in Alaska, when Dr. Herb Schroeder of the University of Alaska at Anchorage took high-end computer parts to remote villages to try to excite indigenous Alaskans about science and engineering as potential careers.

Schroeder's efforts resulted in enrollment of about 200 Alaska Natives in engineering programs, she said.

This year, the program is being replicated in four universities in the lower 48 states: University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Idaho, and University of North Dakota, in addition to SDSMT.

Decker said nine students were chosen to take part in this inaugural program, but three didn't show up for the first session and won't be able to make up the lost time.

Next semester, up to 10 participants will be selected, she said.

Whitehead said the program is funded at about 50 percent by the National Science Foundation, with additional funds from 3-M and an anonymous donor. SDSMT will have to continue raising funds to keep the program going, she said.

Students who take part in the program are building a foundation for future options, Whitehead said.

"Some of them will decide they want to follow careers in these areas; some of them won't," Whitehead said. "But we want to make sure that they take the kind of classes and are successful academically so that doors remain open to them."

Decker said the first session was a great success. Mike Talley, principal at Central, and Peter Wharton, district superintendent, showed up, and the kids had a meal of sub sandwiches.

"The kids are so excited, and they were really looking forward to the second build," she said. "So far, I couldn't be happier with the direction that it's taking."

Unfortunately for these eager students, the second building session had to be postponed because of the Nov. 6 blizzard and was reset to the following week.

Decker said students interested in applying for AISEP can contact her or talk to John Brewer, one of the graduation coaches at Central, or Jessica Kanta, Bush grant coordinator for Rapid City schools.