The new laptops are here! The current eighth graders have been eagerly waiting to take home their laptops since 7th grade. The time has finally come for us to take on the responsibility of caring for one of the most important educational tools in the rest of our Hewitt school career.
During the second week of school, the whole grade congregated in the library as the unveiling of the sacred Dell laptops began. Students anxiously tore open boxes and sorted through the bubble wrap and information pamphlets to get to “our babies,” as student Jadeen Samuels ’16 described them.
Not being allowed to take the laptops home the first month was annoying. Romi Jin ’16 said, “A challenge was that you had to keep e-mailing yourself work and sometimes you would forget. Consequently, you couldn’t do homework or study efficiently.”
On October 20, 2011, the 8th graders finally earned the privilege of taking our laptops home! It is much easier because everything is stored in one place. The next and final benchmark is to become administrators, which will allow us to download and install software. “I look forward to downloading music and games onto my laptop,” stated Samantha Hott ’16. Of course we won’t be using them during classes, but during break and after school if we aren’t occupied with other work.
Interestingly, three-eighths of Ms. Knight’s advisory prefer to have Mac computers rather than Dells. “Macs are faster and cooler,” offered Romi Jin. Seventh grader Brianna Harris admitted she too prefers Macs. Amanata Adams’ 17 agreed.
For years, the laptop program has helped Hewitt students expand their learning beyond the classroom, and it has made note-taking much less time consuming, thus giving more time in class for discussion. In a society that is becoming more technology-oriented, our laptops help us to become key members of the 21st century.