Tek4Kids

Category: Collaborations and Partnerships

  • Tek4Kids Celebrates International Women’s Day

    Tek4Kids Celebrates International Women’s Day

    Every year, March 8th is honored as International Women’s Day (IWD) around the world. Our team in Haiti is celebrating the month of March as women’s month in conjunction with IWD and using its theme, Choose to Challenge, to motivate and encourage one another.

    Marichka Milord initiated and coordinated the celebration of IWD to highlight the achievements and contributions of women working with Tek4Kids and our partner organizations. The month-long emphasis supports diversity, equality and inclusion and focuses on women’s contributions in the STEM field. As part of the campaign, Milord produced videos featuring two accomplished women in our organization, Laura Desmangles and Dana Cazeau.

    Milord also organized a conference held on March 8th at the Jeremie Enterprise and Technology (JET) center, which included round-table discussions about the role of women in society and the challenges and injustices that women in Haiti face. Milord, along with St. Francis School of Technology teachers Delice Dorvil and Rony Jean Baptiste, moderated the discussions.

    Both moderators and participants asserted that women in Haitian are often seen as the ones responsible for domestic tasks, while men are breadwinners and are given more educational and career opportunities. Participants maintained that women should hold other important roles in society, as they are quite capable of adding value to society in more ways than taking care of their household.

    Participants also considered the importance of creating an inclusive society where everyone’s contributions are valued, regardless of gender. This requires a shift in thinking and becoming aware of deep-rooted biases and conditioning. Seeing each gender as equal leads to providing equal opportunities for them. In addition, participants stressed that change begins at home, so shaping children’s perception of gender is vital.

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  • Supplying 676,000 Gallons of Purified Water, Tek4Kids Completes Project as Schools Reopen in Haiti

    Supplying 676,000 Gallons of Purified Water, Tek4Kids Completes Project as Schools Reopen in Haiti

    As the Covid-19 pandemic emerged in the United Sates and Haiti in late March, Tek4Kids responded immediately by providing free, purified water for hand washing and drinking in the community of Jeremie, Haiti using six distribution points, its partner schools that were forced to close due to the coronavirus outbreak.

    Four months and thousands of dollars later, Tek4Kids has wrapped up its water distribution project. Since its partner schools recently reopened, Tek4Kids could not continue using the schools’ facilities, space and infrastructure for water distribution, but resumed its primary mission to provide technology education for more than 2,000 students in Jeremie.

    From April 1 through August 7, Tek4Kids purified and distributed 676,000 gallons of free water to the residents of Jeremie. Recording nearly 156,000 visits to its distribution points, Tek4Kids purchased 315 truckloads of water to purify using its infrastructure already in place, which employs a chlorination system. Here’s how Tek4Kids’ water purification systems work. More than 30 Tek4Kids staff members managed the water distribution project.

    Since Tek4Kids did not charge residents for the water, its expenses were significant. If you would like to help us continue our mission to bridge the poverty gap and provide hope for a brighter future for students in Haiti through education and technology, please donate here.

  • Tek4Kids Fall Virtual Tech Summit

    Tek4Kids Fall Virtual Tech Summit

    The Tek4Kids Fall Virtual Tech Summit takes place on Wednesday, September 2, 2020 from 12:00-12:45 pm. Learn how Tek4Kids uses education and technology to change students’ lives in Haiti. The summit will explore new possibilities for learning and invite your ideas for improving education, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. The free event will live stream presentations, panel discussions and interviews with leaders engaging the theme: The Art of Possible.

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    Guest Speakers

    Margarett Lubin, Country Director J/P Haitian Relief Organization, CORE – Community Organized Relief Effort
    William ‘Skip’ Hahnert, Dean, School of Information Technology, Ivy Tech Community College


    Event Agenda

    • The Story of Tek4Kids: Gary Boice, Tek4Kids Founder and Board Chair
    • Women in Tech: Maryse King, Tek4Kids Country Director (Haiti) 2017-18 and current volunteer; Michelle Boice, Tek4Kids volunteer
    • Personal Stories from Haiti: Daphna Jean-Pierre and William Philippe
    • Guest Speakers: Margarett Lubin and Skip Hahnert
    • Open collaboration and questions
  • As Coronavirus Cases Increase in Haiti, Tek4Kids Continues Its Life-Saving Efforts

    As Coronavirus Cases Increase in Haiti, Tek4Kids Continues Its Life-Saving Efforts

    The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Haiti has risen to 456 as of May 18, with more than 100 cases reported in the previous 24 hours. In its continuing efforts to stop the spread of the virus in the community of Jeremie, Haiti, Tek4Kids has surpassed the 230,000 gallon mark in total number of gallons dispensed since the pandemic began. The free water for residents is purified at six partner school locations and distributed by 32 Haitian Tek4Kids staff members.

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    The Pan American Health Organization is warning of an impending humanitarian crisis in Haiti due to the pandemic. Since many Haitians lack access to clean water for handwashing and drinking, Tek4Kids ramped up its efforts to distribute this vital resource free of charge and plans to continue doing so for the foreseeable future despite mounting costs.

    The actual number of coronavirus cases in Haiti may be significantly higher than 456, but testing is limited. Health officials are also concerned that Haiti will be unable to provide enough personal protection equipment for medical staff or oxygen for those with severe cases of covid-19. Economic and political factors are also contributing to the crisis in Haiti.

    If you would like to help Tek4Kids continue its life-saving work to distribute clean water, please consider donating here. Thank you!

  • Tek4Kids Distributes 676,000 Gallons of Clean Water in Pandemic Response Efforts

    Tek4Kids Distributes 676,000 Gallons of Clean Water in Pandemic Response Efforts

    An update from Gary Boice, Tek4Kids Founder:

    Tek4Kids responded to the coronavirus pandemic in Haiti by providing purified water to the residents of Jérémie, Haiti at no cost. Tek4Kids redirected 32 staff members and provided 676,000 gallons of purified water from 6 locations around Jérémie the first of 2020.

    Because school is not in session, we are utilizing Tek4Kids’ six partner school water purification systems located in Jeremie as distribution points where people can come for purified water. Most people in the community do not have access to clean water for drinking and hand-washing, so this is an essential step in stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

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    In addition to the important work Tek4Kids is doing, we have partnered with several other groups in the community to extend our reach. Hopestart International is working to provide 5000 sanitation stations (buckets with spigots and other handwashing necessities) to the community. You can find out more here: https://bit.ly/STOPTHESPREAD

    Tek4Kids has teams of four at each partner school location, plus one team purifying water and one management team, for a total of 32 Tek4Kids staff members working on this project. They purify and distribute the water six days per week.

    Our goal in all these efforts with purified water is to minimize the threat of the coronavirus to the people of Jeremie in hopes they can weather this storm as they have so often in the past.

    Tek4Kids staff in Haiti produced this video highlighting our efforts.

    If you’d like to help Tek4Kids continue its efforts in responding to the pandemic in Haiti, please click here: www.tek4kids.org/donate/. Thank you!!

  • Help Stop the Spread Partnership

    Help Stop the Spread Partnership

    Like most other countries on this planet, Haiti is dealing with confirmed cases of coronavirus infections. Unlike most countries, Haiti has the least resources for coping with the ravages of this pandemic.

    To date, the town of Jeremie, Haiti has no known cases of coronavirus infections. The quick implementation of PREVENTIVE MEASURES is the best hope of keeping it that way, and minimizing the spread of the dreaded virus. Time is of the essence.

    To help combat COVID-19 and stop the spread, Tek4Kids is partnering with other nonprofits in Jeremie: Hopestart International, Vilaj Ansanm, Jeremie Christian Mission and HSMS Haiti. Tek4Kids has set up 6 locations at its partner schools where FREE CLEAN WATER is being provided to anyone who comes, six days per week.

    In addition, Hopestart International has begun a campaign to provide sanitation stations to 5,000 families in Jeremie. A donation of $29 provides one family a sanitation station that includes these essential elements for stopping the spread of COVID-19:
    • Covered bucket with spout
    • 3 Month supply of Actimed Antibacterial soap
    • 3 Month supply of Colorox beads
    • 2 washable hand made masks
    • Labor for masks/stations
    • Hand Washing guide
    • Transportation

    Hopestart will make these stations available as funds come in. You can donate to Hopestart here: https://give.classy.org/StopTheSpread/

  • Tek4Kids Responds to the Coronavirus Pandemic in Haiti

    Tek4Kids Responds to the Coronavirus Pandemic in Haiti

    An update from Dustin Klink, Tek4Kids project manager in Jeremie, Haiti:

    The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the world on so many different levels. We have no idea what the ultimate impact will be in Haiti, but we believe clean water will help reduce the risk to many people. The Tek4Kids water distribution project is going to save lives here in this community and help flatten the curve in Haiti.

    Since school is not in session, we are utilizing Tek4Kids’ six partner school water purification systems located in Jeremie as distribution points where people can come for purified water. Most people in the community do not have access to clean water for drinking and handwashing and Tek4Kids has stepped up to provide this resource at no cost to residents. We also provide diesel fuel to run our generators to produce the clean water.

    I had the opportunity to lead a great team of 32 Tek4Kids staff members to implement this life-saving effort. Without their continuing hard work, this project would not be possible.

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    Getting ready to distribute clean water to the community took many steps and a coordinated effort to get everything in place. Many calculations were done to insure the locations were prepared, enough water was in place, water trucks were arranged to refill them and delivery stations were set up. We have teams of four at each location, plus one team purifying water and one management team. Each location is unique and attracts different numbers of people.

    At each of our distribution sites, we are following the Haitian government’s COVID-19 mandates: we cannot have more than ten people inside the gates at any time and we must maintain distance between each person in line.

    I’m proud of our team and grateful to have had the opportunity to coordinate this project to serve our community. It was a privilege to lead an awesome group of people who brought different skill sets together to achieve our goal of providing clean water to the community of Jeremie to help promote better health practices during the pandemic.

  • Tek4Kids Students Shine in Robotics Class

    Tek4Kids Students Shine in Robotics Class

    Nearly 50 students in Jeremie, Haiti recently had the opportunity to take part in a hands-on Lego robotics class sponsored by Expo Science Haiti. The students ranged in age from 10-14 and were invited to attend from five Tek4Kids partner schools: St. John Bosco, St. Therese Montessori, Bro. Paulin, St. John the Evangelist and St. Louis High School.

    The event was coordinated by Raygine Francois, Founder and Executive Director at Haiti STEM Alliance, and held at the new Jeremie Enterprise and Technology (JET) center. Graduates of the St. Francis School of Technology (SFST) – Laguerre Guelson, Pierre Jean Widner, Leon Roberto and Pierre Wesley – worked on the project in advance and were on hand to help guide the students during the class.

    The goal of the robotics class was for students to learn to assemble, program and operate a small Lego robot. Teams of 2 or 3 students were each given the Lego kit, which contained hundreds of pieces. Students used tablets to follow the instructions for assembling the robot and once assembled, used them to sync, program and operate it.

    Most of these students already had experience using iPads, smartboards and laptops as a result of Tek4Kids collaboration with partner schools in Jeremie. Nearly all 20 teams were able to complete the robot project successfully! We look forward to future opportunities to participate in robotic challenge competitions and hope to represent Jeremie well.

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  • Another Boice Joins Tek4Kids in Haiti

    Another Boice Joins Tek4Kids in Haiti

    Working with Tek4Kids has become a family affair for the Boice family! Gary and Cathy Boice are its co-founders, while son Michael joined the team full-time last year to lead and coordinate all our technology efforts in Haiti.

    Recently, son Brooke traveled to Jeremie, Haiti to teach a Python class for third year students at St. Francis School of Technology, the certified technology school Tek4Kids began in 2015. Brooke lives in Boulder, CO with his wife and three children and is currently a Senior Advanced Services Architect in the Data Center ATG with Trace3.

    Brooke created a lab environment where everyone in the class had access to their own virtual machine to run Python, which is a high-level programming language used primarily for web and application development. During the class, Brooke presented brief segments of lecture, immediately followed by a lab to apply the lessons learned. He focused initially on the basic concepts of Python and the labs then challenged students to customize Python scripts that query live websites for weather data, based on location. Finally, the students built a basic Python web server.

    Brooke commented that he was surprised by the students’ level of engagement and noted that almost every student followed along and constantly asked questions. He said it was truly a pleasure to teach students who were so eager to learn!

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  • Tek4Kids Partner School Reps Gather to Learn and Collaborate

    Tek4Kids Partner School Reps Gather to Learn and Collaborate

    Tek4Kids partnership school representatives recently assembled to learn about our latest efforts in technology education for students in the community of Jeremie, Haiti. The response was better than 100%, since we sent out 24 invitations and 25 people showed up!

    Representatives from all our partner schools joined us, including teachers and administrators from St. Louis High School, St. Louis Elementary, St. John Bosco, St. Therese Montessori, Brother Paulin, Montfort, St. John the Evangelist and Step by Step.

    During the meeting, Te4Kids founder Gary Boice outlined our process for using technology in educating students, beginning with our partnership with local schools in Jeremie. Around 2,000 students have access to iPads, smart boards and laptop computer classes in our partner schools. In addition, we provide basic infrastructure such as purified water and reliable electricity so that the school environment is conducive for learning.

    Those students interested in pursuing a career in the field of information technology can apply for entrance into our St. Francis School of Technology (SFST), which recently received INFP certification in Haiti after only four years in existence. The three-year program at SFST offers study in database, programming and Microsoft Network Server. Our goal is to prepare students with the knowledge and skills necessary for careers in website design, desktop support and infographics. English language skills are also part of the curriculum at SFST.

    Post graduate support and opportunities follow for SFST graduates with our newly incorporated for-profit business, Technology Integrators Caribbean (TIC). Some students are offered jobs in this business and others can begin their own businesses using the business center located in the Jeremie Enterprise Technology building. All profits from TIC will be funneled back into our non-profit, Tek4Kids.

    Representatives were then treated to a tour of the Network Operations Center for TIC, showing its capabilities for monitoring, security and energy management. Several in attendance expressed gratitude for our work in the community and encouraged more meetings such as this, so everyone can be aware of our work. St. Louis High School educational director Fr. Luxo congratulated Tek4Kids for its determination, will and courage in opening doors of success for young people in Jeremie and affirmed our work as a center of technology that will help Haiti’s economy grow for years to come.
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  • A New Way to Support Tek4Kids!

    A New Way to Support Tek4Kids!

    Are you a Kroger’s shopper? If so, you can support Tek4Kids with each purchase you make! Simply enroll in the Kroger Community Rewards program and select Tek4Kids as the organization you want to support. Participants can enroll annually to keep supporting Tek4Kids year after year!

    Here are the simple steps to enroll:

    1. Create an account with Kroger.com or use the account you already have.
    2. Login to kroger.com/communityrewards.
    3. Click “I’m a Customer” on the Community Rewards page.
    4. Search for and select Tek4Kids or KM106, then click “Enroll.”
    5. You’re enrolled and every purchase you make will help Tek4Kids!

    We appreciate Kroger’s Community Rewards program and this opportunity to support Tek4Kids students in Haiti through technology education!

  • Transparent Language

    Transparent Language

    At Transparent Language, we treat language learning as more than just a casual pursuit. For our customers, including some of the U.S. government’s most stringent language schools, success is not optional. Their students must reach a specified level of proficiency in a set amount of time. We make their challenge our mission: to train faster with more reliable results.

    Fun programs with serious results
    We develop innovative technology and methods to enable faster and more reliable language learning outcomes for professionals in organizations with critical language requirements, for students and teachers in academic environments, and for anyone else intent on becoming more proficient in another language. We know great learning technology is engaging and satisfying, with quality content and game dynamics that maintain every learner’s attention. Our systems leverage the element of fun to achieve serious results – where students and instructors see and feel real progress. We also know the tools provided to teachers matter as much as those provided to students. We provide instructors with the comprehensive reporting features needed to improve language program management.

    We care about every language
    We don’t just offer our own courses — our technology is designed to strengthen and leverage every course and curriculum. We care about every language, not just those where there is money to be made. We put our money into transformative technology and resources, instead of advertising, and concentrate on providing the most enticing, fun, and flexible language products possible.

    Available to everyone
    Transparent Language programs are available to all U.S. Government personnel, language schools, and language programs via a program of the Department of Defense’s language portal, Joint Language University. Our products are also available in more than 12,000 libraries, corporate organizations, and educational institutions worldwide. We also make the same effective, affordable system available to individuals who care about their own personal language learning too.

    Our English language volunteer in Haiti, Rose Yunker, commented, “Transparent Language’s program for teaching English to French-speaking students was an invaluable aid to my Haitian students’ progress. It provided the backbone to my own classroom activities and kept my class productively engaged while I worked with individual students or small groups.” Hats off to Transparent Language for this generous gift!

    Tek4Kids continues to recover from the crippling effects of Hurricane Matthew last October. Part of this effort involves replacing Tek4Kids laptops that were damaged in the storm. Many thanks to Transparent Language, who is providing replacement software for these laptops free of charge!

    Click here to visit website: http://www.transparent.com