Computer reuse to benefit Santa Rita Elementary School Laptop Home Usage Program

By Terence Lee

EqOpTech, a Los Altos student-run nonprofit, promotes and enables equal opportunity free access to technology for computer learning and STEM education for students in need.

Terence Lee and Santa Rita Principal Greg Land (left to right)

Terence Lee and Santa Rita Principal Greg Land (left to right)

Equal Opportunity Learning via Technology

Terence Lee, a high school junior at Los Altos High School ("LAHS") partners with Santa Rita Elementary School 5th graders to launch a laptop drive to benefit students in need. “Our goal is to promote equal opportunity learning through technology tools,” Lee said. “All donated laptops will be redeployed to kids who do not have easy access to online educational content.”

Students in the Los Altos School District often work collaboratively on project-based learning using tools such as Google Docs and Edmodo.

“This collaborative environment aims at sharpening students’ research and analytical skills as well as teamwork and project management experience expected of them in the real world,” Lee said. “For this reason, it is essential that students have access to laptops both in class and at home.”

To bridge the gap for students who do not have laptops at home, Lee and his tech team work tirelessly in the weekly LAHS Refurbish Workshops to fix up, upgrade and install necessary software on all donated laptops. Each laptop has been refurbished to its full functionality and all personal data removed prior to redeployment. 

The Santa Rita laptop home usage program will be deployed in 3 phases:

Phase 1: 7 refurbished laptops have been delivered to the 5th and 6th graders on November 17, 2016.

Phase 2: 7 refurbished laptops have been delivered to the 4th graders on December 8, 2016.

Phase 3: 8 refurbish laptops going to TK through 3rd grades in March 2017.

A big Thank You

The EqOpTech team would like to express its sincere gratitude to the donors, Santa Rita 5th graders, Teacher Kathy Day-Bobb, Principal Greg Land, Ms. Alice Lee, LAHS Teacher Sra. Rodriguex, Principal Wynn Satterwhite, Los Altos Town Crier, Nextdoor Community for their support. 

Terence Lee, Santa Rita 5th graders, Kathy Day-Bobb, Greg Land (left to right)

EqOpTech launches Congressional Award initiative

2016 Congressional Award Ceremony, Cannon Caucus Room on Capitol Hill, June 16, 2016

2016 Congressional Award Ceremony, Cannon Caucus Room on Capitol Hill, June 16, 2016

By Terence Lee

EqOpTech, a student-run nonprofit organization promoting equal opportunity learning via technology, is pleased to announce an initiative to promote service and achievement among its students through the Congressional Award Program. The Los Altos-based nonprofit aspires to empower and enable students with a platform to gain real-world experience and leadership skills and inspires them to give back to the community. The Congressional Award program seeks to encourage and empower students to meet personal goals, develop new skill sets, and serve the needs of the local community and beyond.  

EqOpTech is looking forward to foster a well balanced program to challenge students to a lifelong learning, a passion for community service, an appreciation for health and fitness, a desire to stretch and grow and an enriched professional, personal and civic lives.

The Congressional Award Journey

"The Congressional Award journey has been most challenging and fulfilling, but the true reward is the joy of giving back to the community,"  says Terence Lee, 2016 Congressional Award Gold Medalist. "The set goals help propel me to push my limits, expand my horizons, enrich my public service. It is through my active community involvement that inspires me to launch a nonprofit EqOpTech to promote equal opportunity learning via technology. I am honored to be a Congressional Award ambassador, serving as an advisor or validator for local youth pursuing the award."

For more information on how to get started, visit Community Service Awards on EqOpTech website.


Congratulations to 2016 EqOpTech Award Winners

By Terence Lee, December 9, 2016

The Equal Opportunity Technology Program provides both leadership opportunities and real work experiences for student volunteers. On December 9, 2016, EqOpTech hosted its Award Ceremony at Los Altos High School. It is with great pride and honor to recognize the following recipients of this year’s EqOpTech Awards for their demonstrated passion and above-and-beyond commitment serving as leaders and role models for others. 

David Ding, EqOpTech 2016 Leadership Award Honoree, flanked by Sra. Rodriguex, left, and Terence Lee.

David Ding, EqOpTech 2016 Leadership Award Honoree, flanked by Sra. Rodriguex, left, and Terence Lee.

2016 LEADERSHIP AWARD - DAVID DING

The 2016 EqOpTech Leadership Award goes to David Ding from Los Altos High School. David spearheads the design and development of the STEM program at EqOpTech. He is instrumental in implementing and maintaining the Khan Academy and mentorship program at Sunday Friends. He also onboards our team communication onto the Slack Application to streamline our real-time communication which maximizes efficiency. He is an effective collaborator with community leaders; it is through his connections that we had the opportunity and pleasure to work with Ms. Alice Lee on the Santa Rita and Egan Laptop Projects. "We thank you, David for your good citizenship, leadership and contributions to our organization." -Terence Lee.

Randall Lowe, EqOpTech 2016 Technology Award Honoree, flanked by Sra. Rodriguex, left, and Terence Lee.

Randall Lowe, EqOpTech 2016 Technology Award Honoree, flanked by Sra. Rodriguex, left, and Terence Lee.

2016 TECHNOLOGY AWARD - RANDALL LOWE

The EqOpTech 2016 Technology Award goes to Randall Lowe from Los Altos High School. Randall is our technology guru, he is the go-to person for computer tech questions. He is very dedicated and has put in countless hours both at home and at workshops going both above and beyond. He is especially passionate with helping underprivileged kids to excel in STEM education, supporting both the laptop refurbishing as well as attending the STEM workshop mentoring programs at Sunday Friends. Randall is resourceful and his knowledge on open source software and Linux based OS are an essential aspect of our efforts to boost system performance on older laptops. "Randall, we wish to thank you for your valuable contributions and friendship to EqOpTech,"-Terence Lee.

“A big thank you to Sra. Rodriguex for presenting the 2016 Awards to our honorees. On behalf of EqOpTech Club, we wish to express our gratitude to you for your inspiration, support and guidance throughout the year.
Congratulations to our award winners. “
- President Terence Lee

EqOpTech Inc. seeks Used Laptops to Benefit Students at Egan Junior High

By Terence Lee, November 15, 2016

EqOpTech Recycle-Refurbish-Redeploy Program at Egan Junior High School

EqOpTech Recycle-Refurbish-Redeploy Program at Egan Junior High School

Following a successful first-phase roll out of a Refurbished Laptop Program at Santa Rita Elementary School, EqOpTech, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit company, is launching another tech initiative to benefit students at Egan Junior High School

Bridging the Gap between the Classroom and the Real World

The 21st century project-based learning is the future of education. Egan Junior High School uses innovative learning strategies to enable students to become creative problem-solvers and collaborative learners. Project-based learning connects classroom learning to solving real-life problems. Students are coached to research, investigate, collaborate, design solutions and present findings to a real-world challenge. This problem-based and collaborative environment aims at sharpening student's critical thinking, problem solving skills as well as teamwork and project management experience expected of them in the real world. 

Learning Infused with Technology

Technology is deeply integrated into project-based learning; students are expected to learn and leverage technology tools, from online research, collaboration using google hangouts or google docs to shooting video, iMovies for TED talks. Likewise, teachers use tools like Edmodo, Membean and other Google tools to foster collaboration and student engagement. 

Learning inside and outside of classroom

The traditional classroom now transforms into a virtual classroom that extends learning beyond the physical classroom. This poses a learning challenge for students who do not have laptops at home. Not only are these students unable to access online research at home, but they also cannot collaborate real-time with teammates to complete project-based and online assignments. 

Laptop Home Loan Program - Donate Now

EqOpTech is seeking functioning laptops (Windows & Mac) with appropriate power adapters on an ongoing basis. Each laptop will be refurbished to its full functionality with operating system and removal of all personal data prior to deployment. 

"Our goal is to promote equal opportunity learning through technology tools," according to Terence Lee, CEO and Founder of EqOpTech. "All donated laptops will be refurbished and deployed to students who do not have laptops to access online tools to complete projects and homework assignments." 

To donate, please drop off at collection box at the office, Egan Junior High School, 100 West Portola Avenue, Los Altos or e-mail Donate@EqOpTech.org or call (650) 559-8338 to coordinate.  Please disable any password prior to donating.

Donations are tax-deductible. Tax receipt will be provided upon request and will be mailed directly from EqOpTech Inc. Thank you for supporting the Laptop Donation Program. 

Equal Opportunity Technology

About EqOpTech
Founded in May 2016, EqOpTech is a 501(c)(3) IRS-designated tax exempt nonprofit organization managed by students. EqOpTech promotes and enables equal opportunity free access to technology for computer learning and STEM education in under-served communities.

Website: www.EqOpTech.org, E-mail: Contact@EqOpTech.org 

EqOpTech Teams Up with Sunday Friends to Introduce Khan Academy Program to Help Disadvantaged Youth

By Emma Kwan, Marketing Manager, September 2, 2016

EqOpTech, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit company, partnered with Sunday Friends on August 28, 2016 to introduce Khan Academy as a modernized learning tool for underprivileged kids at one of Sunday Friends’ program locations, Lowell Elementary School.

Left to Right, LAHS Students mentors: Terence Lee, Jane Zhao, Emma Kwan & David Ding

Left to Right, LAHS Students mentors: Terence Lee, Jane Zhao, Emma Kwan & David Ding

Khan Academy Mathematics Pilot Program

EqOpTech ran two sessions of thirty minutes each and had 8 beta-testers for the Mathematics program. Each kid was given their own laptop as well as a headset to participate in the new program. Individual accounts were set up to track participants’ progress and mentors utilized Khan Academy’s personal dashboard to identify learning gap and recommend areas of improvement.

A Blend of Technology and Teaching

EqOpTech strongly believes in using technology to enhance face-to-face teaching and learning experience. The Khan Academy’s instructional videos, exercise practices and dashboard are effective tools to allow mentors to tailor the program to challenge individual kids to learn. Mentors will create a mission with predefined content and can be adapted and customized to allow kids to learn at their own pace. Based on the learning dashboard, mentors can provide feedback, help participants that are struggling as well as provide words of encouragement. The face-to-face interactions along with energy points and badges are great motivational tools to foster a focused, enriched environment for positive learning.

Students Helping Students Program

EqOpTech aspires to promote equal opportunity learning to all youth by enabling the use of technology and empowering student leaders to help those with education needs. As kids from the beta testing were not the only ones that benefited, student mentors also gained important coaching experience while making a difference in the community.

"EqOpTech believes in engaging kids in early STEM at a young age to foster a passion for lifelong learning,” CEO Terence Lee said. “I was so encouraged that the technology tools and mentor support had such a significant positive impact on children’s learning experience. We look forward to the next series of workshops and joint technology projects with Sunday Friends." 

The Next Step

After a successful launch of the pilot program, EqOpTech will continue to strive for educational excellence and equality for all children. The Pilot Program provided valuable data and insight into how best to run the modules, as we take the necessary steps to further improve the learning experience going forward. At the next workshop, participants will warm up by taking a diagnostic test. This will be followed by practice problems tailored to match and challenge participants’ learning needs. These changes will be put into place at the next Khan Academy workshop event at Santee Elementary School (1313 Audubon Dr., San Jose, CA, 95122) on September 11, 2016.

Going Offline and Going Mobile

Most low-income families at Sunday friends do not have an internet connection. This creates a learning challenge for kids who wish to access Khan Academy from home using EqOpTech’s refurbished laptops. EqOpTech is currently exploring a possible solution using an offline version of Khan Academy. Please stay tuned for developments of future offline deployments.

Recently, Khan Academy joined forces with Duck Duck Moose to expand its education footprint to target the preschoolers. The 21 apps from Duck Duck Moose can now be downloaded for free in the Google Play and Apple App Store. With the intellectual property and workforce donated from Duck Duck Moose, Khan Academy plans to launch a new offering of mobile apps for young learners entering kindergarten. To prepare for modern 21st century learning with mobile apps, EqOpTech is seeking donations of mobile devices (tablets, ipads) to enable Sunday Friends preschoolers to have equal access to Duck Duck Moose free apps. To donate mobile devices or provide support, please e-mail Donate@EqOpTech.org or call (650) 559-8338 to arrange for pick up or drop off.

About EqOpTech

Founded in May 2016, EqOpTech is a 501(c)(3) IRS-designated tax exempt nonprofit organization managed by students. EqOpTech promotes and enables equal opportunity free access to technology for computer learning and STEM education in under-served communities.

Website: www.EqOpTech.org

E-mail: Contact@EqOpTech.org

EqOpTech Inc. seeks Laptop Donation to benefit needy students and families at Santa Rita Elementary School

By Terence Lee, August 25, 2016

EqOpTech Recycle-Refurbish-Redeploy Program at Santa Rita Elementary School

EqOpTech Recycle-Refurbish-Redeploy Program at Santa Rita Elementary School

Following a successful roll out of a Refurbished Laptop STEM program at Sunday Friends, EqOpTech, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit company, is launching another tech initiative to benefit needy students or families at Santa Rita Elementary School

Project-Based Collaborative Learning at Los Altos School District (LASD)

LASD has been preparing its students for 21st century project-based learning and collaboration using Google Docs and Edmodo. Working as a team, students are asked to share a Google Doc and perform research on a project together and review each other's work while providing online edits and receiving feedback from classmates and teacher. This collaborative environment aims at sharpening student's research and analytical skills as well as teamwork and project management experience expected of them in the real world. For this reason, it is essential that students have access to laptops both in class and at home.

Bridging the Learning Gap

The traditional classroom now transforms into a virtual classroom that extends learning beyond the physical classroom. This poses a learning challenge for the needed students who do not have laptops at home. Not only are these students unable to access online research at home, but they also cannot collaborate real-time with classmates to prepare for classroom discussion. Overtime, students without laptop will be lagging behind their peers, learning at a slower pace.

Laptop Home Loan Program - Donate Now

EqOpTech is seeking functioning laptops (Windows & Mac) with appropriate power adapters on an ongoing basis. "Our goal is to promote equal opportunity learning through technology tools," according to Terence Lee, CEO and Founder of EqOpTech. "All donated laptops will be redeployed to kids who do not have easy access to online educational content." Each laptop will be refurbished to its full functionality with operating system and removal of all personal data prior to redeployment. 

To donate, please e-mail Donate@EqOpTech.org or call (650) 559-8338 to coordinate or drop off at collection box at the office, Santa Rita Elementary School, 700 Los Altos Ave., Los Altos. Please disable any password prior to donating.

Thank you for supporting the Laptop Donation Program. Donations are tax-deductible. Tax receipt will be provided upon request and will be mailed directly from EqOpTech Inc.

Equal Opportunity Technology

Equal Opportunity Technology

About EqOpTech
Founded in May 2016, EqOpTech is a 501(c)(3) IRS-designated tax exempt nonprofit organization managed by students. EqOpTech promotes and enables equal opportunity free access to technology for computer learning and STEM education in under-served communities.

Website: www.EqOpTech.org, E-mail: Contact@EqOpTech.org 

EqOpTech - Call for Volunteers

By Jane Zhao, August 20, 2016

EqOpTech is a nonprofit company started, led and run by students, and for the benefit of students in underserved communities. The Silicon Valley-based Company seeks to empower children with technology tools — donated refurbished laptops to access online educational content —to learn Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education.

Kids Helping Kids: Redeployed laptops enable easy access to online STEM learning.

Kids Helping Kids: Redeployed laptops enable easy access to online STEM learning.

The Equal Opportunity Technology program

The program not only provides computer hardware and software, but also support from a team of volunteers who mentors and inspires underprivileged kids to pursue STEM. EpOpTech hopes to foster STEM learning and computer skills in young children to enable success in school and work. 

Pilot STEM workshop

Starting August 28, 2016, EqOpTech will launch a pilot program at Sunday Friends of San Jose to roll out a series of STEM workshops in Khan Academy and Scratch. The program will kick off with Khan Academy’s Early Math and Basic Computer Programming. The curriculum is designed and tailored specific to participants’ age, skill and interest level. The first event will be held at Lowell School, 625 South 7th Street, San Jose, CA 95112 on Sunday, August 28, from 2 to 4 pm,. 

Calling student volunteers

EqOpTech team is seeking leaders with a passion in technology to teach, mentor and be a role model for the kids. This is also an excellent opportunity for student volunteers to gain valuable work experience involving community service and leadership responsibilities. All volunteer time qualifies for community service hour credits. Anyone interested, please sign up via the google form here.

About EqOpTech
Founded in May 2016, EqOpTech is a 501(c)(3) IRS-designated tax exempt nonprofit organization managed by students. EqOpTech promotes and enables equal opportunity free access to technology for computer learning and STEM education in under-served communities. website: www.EqOpTech.org, e-mail: Contact@EqOpTech.org 

Words to the Wise

STEM speaker Series #1,

By Terence Lee, July 29, 2016

On July 23, 2016, Ms. Rhonda Mak, an intern writer at Los Altos Town Crier visited with EqOpTech and shared her knowledge, experience and words of wisdom on college and career. Rhonda is currently a rising sophomore at Boston University and a graduate of Monta Vista High school. 

Left to right, Rhonda Mak, Terence Lee, David Ding, Jane Zhao

Left to right, Rhonda Mak, Terence Lee, David Ding, Jane Zhao

Rhonda is pursuing a major in Computer Science and a minor in Journalism or Communications at Boston University. Rhonda's interest in writing started in her junior year at Monta High School where she produced content for the school news magazine El Estoque. At El Estoque, Rhonda served as design editor for two years, providing guidance on the overall design of the magazine on top of writing articles on a regular basis. At Boston University, she managed social media and web support as multimedia editor at The Daily Free Press, contributing her expertise in video and web design work. Visit here to see her work. During this summer, she interns at Los Altos Town Crier where she enjoys researching and writing stories about a variety of different topics and people. She said that journalism is a human collection of stories that come together that tells people who we are and what we do. She has written about many different topics, from bank fraud to an autistic teen who self-publishes comic books.

New Ways to tell stories

With a computer science major and journalism minor, Rhonda hopes to explore the new and exciting field of Data Journalism. Data journalism uses numerical data analysis to tell stories and predict the future; turning data into information, intelligence and forecast. We have seen an explosion of data due to the proliferation of digital devices in recent years. With the advent of Big Data, data journalists can use statistics, calculus and computer science tools to tell a compelling story backed by data analysis and visualization. For example, an interesting application of data journalism is the 2016 Presidential Election forecast.

Rhonda also said that her CS major and Journalism minor opens up interesting opportunities into Tech Journalism such as the Wired Magazine

Get out of your comfort zone and explore…

When asked about how she decided on computer science major and journalism minor for her college, Rhonda provided this advice to students trying to decide on their majors. “Come out of your shell, put yourself in a nasty situation and be open minded,” Rhonda said. “Explore and try different things, expose yourself in a broad spectrum of subjects.” This is so true, take some risks and follow your passion.

Rhonda also has the following advice for college applications: know your deadlines, apply for scholarships, research schools that are strong in your major. On essay writing, she said write essays early, ask friends, teachers to review and edit, always highlight your good traits and character and tell your unique stories. As most essay has a general prompt, you can start with the common app essay and tailor the essay to other applications.

Thank you for these words of wisdom, Rhonda

EqOpTech would like to express our sincere gratitude to Ms. Rhonda Mak for spending a Saturday morning sharing her invaluable insight and words of wisdom.