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Computer experts Rich Stompanato,
president of ARDS Services, and Sun Kwok, president of Integral Corp.,
started a new program in which they refurbish old Naperville Unit District
203 computers and give them to kids in need. Tanit Jarusan
| Staff Photographer |
Bringing computers to kids in need
By Melissa Jenco | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 11/27/2008 12:04 AM
For some students in Typing a research paper or filling
out online college applications requires coordinating a trip to the library,
or spending hours after school. But area computer experts want to
make sure low-income students have the same access to their own computers as
their peers. Naperville's Sun Kwok and Richard
Stompanato, members of the Naperville Technology Group, are spearheading a
Computer Redeployment Project in Naperville Unit District 203 that gives
refurbished laptops to students in need. "If you want to be
competitive in a global economy you have to take steps necessary and give
them technology," said Kwok, president of Integral Corp. He and Stompanato, president of
ARDS Services, are active not only in the Naperville Technology Group but
also the Rotary Club of Naperville and Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce
and wanted to use their expertise to give back to the community. Naperville Unit District 203 had
about 700 computers it was ready to retire and sell to liquidators. Instead,
the Naperville Education Foundation purchased them and Kwok and Stompanato spent
many long hours working out issues of licensing, how to wipe the computers
clean of district information and making sure they documented every move. With the help of Naperville
Central business teacher Peter Catalano and about 15 students, the group refurbished
about 500 of the computers. This fall, the Naperville
Technology Group gave out roughly 150 computers to District 203 students who
had been recommended by their teachers and wrote short essays describing how
they would benefit. "The reaction of the students
was just overwhelming," Stompanato said. "To be there in that room
when they were giving out computers to those kids and see their faces ...
when I think about all the work, all the hours we put in and the frustration
because it's a new program ... it was well worth it." To keep the program going in
future years, they sold another 325 refurbished computers to community
members for $250 each. The group is hoping either Comcast
or AT&T will agree to partner with them to provide Internet access to
students receiving the free computers. They also would like to not only
continue the program in District 203 but expand it to Indian Prairie Unit
District 204. Nina Menis, director of community
relations for District 203, said she was struck by how many hours the two
spent on the program. "It really adds that little
margin of excellence in our programs," she said. "We're the school
district we are today because of the business partnerships we've had and the
community partners we've had and it's exciting to see that support from the
community." Stompanato and Kwok said the
program wouldn't have been possible without the support of the district as
well as John Puscheck, president of Prager Moving
and Storage who donated the use of his facility for housing the computers and
Wes Ague, a consultant for JW Tech and Associates who is part of the
Naperville Technology Group. |