Students launch tech classroom

Two seniors at the IN-Tech Academy (M.S./H.S. 368) have secured about $80,000 for an integrated-technology-classroom proposal for Manhattan College.

Dennys Reyes and Alejandro Furniel are part of a five-students team recruited by Shawna BuShell, director of instructional technology at the college.

“It all started by chance,” IN-Tech student Tomibel Polanco said.

On a visit to the school, Ms. BuShell met a group of students and started asking them about their goals and how they intended to reach them. Becoming an engineer, a nurse, a dermatologist or a math teacher were among those dreams. 

“I said okay, I’ll take you all,” Ms. BuShell recalled. And she hired the five of them on the spot to come intern with her every week, build up their resumes and gain valuable skills to be prepared for the work world.

Dennys and Alejandro said the night before Ms. BuShell presented the fruit of the students’ labor, a proposal for a “Super Technology Room,” they stayed until 10 p.m. to make sure everything was ready.

“I went into the room with the vice president of finance, the vice president of facilities, my provost, two deans…. Everybody looked at it and turned the pages. They didn’t have one question,” Ms. BuShell said.

By the end of the meeting, she had gotten a green light for funding. “It’s about an $80,000 project that these kids drew,” Ms. BuShell said.

“[I feel] pretty accomplished... It’s not every day that a high school student can say, I designed a room for a college that’s major throughout the nation. And the fact that we actually accomplished that and that it’s being rewarded feels good,” Alejandro said.

The room’s features include two 3-D printers, a smart screen and a cart holding 20 to 30 laptops. Students went into details of the center, including layout and lighting.

“We started out from scratch because everything that was in the room was old. The room had a chalkboard and she wanted a super technology room... We wanted to make sure that the students that were going to be in there were comfortable and wanted to come into this class,” Alejandro explained.

Ms. BuShell described the team as productive and dedicated. “People are wondering how I get so much stuff done,” she said. 

IN-Tech student Jovanny Pena is helping her with a June conference, and Tomibel Polanco and Laura Ramos are helping create online classes.

Ms. BuShell said because the students were so hard working — coming to sessions on time, replying to emails regularly and avoiding the temptations of their smartphones during work time — she is determined to continue the partnership with IN-Tech. And this year’s students will be the ones recruiting their successors.

“It’s not an easy job! Sometimes they feel they’ve done something really good and I go no,” Ms. BuShell explained. So the students go back to their office and figure out a new solution. 

The current interns will be looking for initiative and resourcefulness among the candidates to succeed them. 

“Students that take initiative, that when they reach a dead-end they don’t just stop, they find another way around,” Dennys said.

Ms. BuShell wants to inspire the students to aim as high as they can. She asks them to call her “Dr. BuShell” for instance.

“I push titles because I think it’s important for them to know a black woman is a doctor,” she said. “There’s a lot of women and people of color at Manhattan College that are pretty high in their field.”

Ms. BuShell said she wants students to think, “Maybe I can see myself in that role.” 

The tech classroom will be completed by the end of the summer. 

“We’re definitely coming back this summer to see it come to life,” Alejandro said. “We’re going to be standing in front of it. It’s going to be a great thing to see.”