13 Year Old Student Tech Wiz at Bunche Middle School in Compton Receives National Recognition – She is only One of Eight Students, and Only Female in the Nation to do so.

Congratulations to Bunche Middle School GenYes student tech team captain, Yerenia Barajas, who has been nationally recognized by the GenYes organization as a Certified Student Technology Leader (STL). Yerenia is one of only eight middle school students in the nation to achieve this honor and the only second girl to do so.

The GenYES Certification is a tech certification in which Student Tech Leaders must:

• Complete over 100 unique Technology Assistance Projects
• Assist at least 10 unique teachers/information technology staff in his or her school
• Provide at least 25 total hours of tech assistance in his or her school
• Collaborate on at least 15 Technology Assistance Projects as part of a team

Once students meet these criteria, they are interviewed by a national panel of Generation YES staff about their experiences and accomplishments in the GenYES program.

About GenYES at Bunche

The GenYES program at Bunche Middle School in Compton was first initiated by Bunche by student support specialist Jose Gonzalez. When Mr. Gonzalez first arrived at Bunche, word got around fast that there was an ITD wiz on campus. As a result, he was constantly being called upon to trouble shoot computer issues at school. Soon he was receiving more requests than one person could handle on a given day. In order to help him meet the need, he started training a group of students to help out at the school.

With curriculum support from organization GENYES and Verizon’s iPad program, the students have become very proficient tech support and even have large green screen room they use to make videos. As a result, what started as light helping out with computers on campus has grown into a full-fledged middle school version of the Geek Squad, complete with video editing, mastery of virtually every iPad app imaginable and comprehensive tech support—done by the students. GENYES provides curriculum and support for the team, now formally mentored by Mr. Gonzales.

Anytime a teacher or staff needs assistance with technology they can go online to request it, and a student team member is assigned to the project. Each time a team member completes a technology assistant project (called a TAP), they receive acknowledgment. Yerenia has has the most TAPs completed among the team at Bunche. Congratulations to Yerenia on her most amazing accomplishment and to the outstanding work of the Bunche Student Tech Leader Team.

As Mr. Gonzalez so well stated, "The GENYES Team is reflective of the wonderful students we have in our community. They provide the light for us today and give us a clear view of the path for tomorrow."