The latest issue of the nation’s leading publication for K-12 technology leaders and educators, EdTech, features the Bethlehem Central School District’s Student Help Desk.

This innovative student intern program is run by the district’s technology department. High school students are trained by professionals in the department to assist staff and other students with technology issues of all sorts.

Nearly three dozen student interns staff the Justin T. Brown Student Help Desk, located in the main foyer of the high school, Monday through Friday throughout the school year. The help desk interns use their know-how to tackle Wi-Fi and login issues, repair devices, and act as the first line of support for students and staff at the 1,300-student school. 

The intern program was introduced in 2012 by senior network and systems administrator Navaar Johnson and his colleague at the time, the late Justin Brown. Realizing there were untapped resources in a tech-savvy student population, the two saw opportunities to bring efficiency to the department and help students gain valuable work and life skills.

Johnson, along with Erin Sheevers, the district’s chief technology officer, are featured in the 2024 EdTech article.

Read the Summer 2024 EdTech feature story.

In the 2024-25 school year, the BC technology department plans to expand the help desk concept to the middle school where younger students will have similar opportunities to troubleshoot technology as interns.