I am proud to put the spotlight on the final three members of the 2014-2015 Help Desk team. Please meet BHS seniors Nathan Rippin, Kelsey O’Brien, and Prateek Rana. Each of these exceptional students brings a unique skill set to the BHS Help Desk, but a few things they have in common are a willingness to help others and a desire to continuously learn about new technology.
Kelsey and Prateek are first year members of Help Desk, however they have quickly emerged as efficient problem solvers and creative thinkers. They both demonstrate cooperative, positive attitudes and maintain a professional demeanor no matter who they are interacting with while working in the Help Desk. Nathan is in his second year of Help Desk and continues to be the “go to guy” when it comes to trouble shooting Apple devices and hardware. There are very few technical issues Nathan can’t solve for students and teachers alike. In addition to his technical know-how, Nathan loves talking with anyone and everyone who walks through the door of Help Desk. He takes customer service to a whole new level and anyone who has ever worked with him would agree!
Below are the staff bios of Nathan, Kelsey, and Prateek, along with their introduction videos. Please take a few moments to get to know each of these Help Desk geniuses and feel free to share their work with members of your PLN!
Hello, my name is Nathaniel Rippin. I am currently a senior at Burlington High and a second year member of the Help Desk. I excel in Mac, PC, iOS, hardware, and troubleshooting. I can create videos, screencasts, and app-smashed solutions to education problems. My height helps with mounted projectors and seeing above the problem. Besides Help Desk, I am in an Instrumental Group and in the Boy Scouts. I love to camp, play instruments, find the next big thing, and help others. I am also the Head of Business for the high school robotics team, DevilBotz. I have used my leadership skills acquired in Help Desk to build a boardwalk at my high school for my Eagle Project. I look to help those who need it and to teach innovative ideas from projects to classroom management. Follow me at @Escape_thenate.
Kelsey O’Brien- Class of 2015
My name is Kelsey and I am now a member of the Help Desk at Burlington High School. I am a Senior this year. I am an expert in MacBooks and I love learning new shortcuts for functions on the keyboard. I enjoy trouble shooting problems with the MacBook. I will try to fix as much as I can as quick as I can! I try to keep up with educational apps in order to make it easier for me to keep organized in school. I want to pass on the information I find to others through the Help Desk blog. There are tons of ways to keep documents and research for history and English on the iPad. My goal this year is to discover new ways to make other classes just as easy. I love math and science. Chemistry is my favorite type of science. It reminds me of a puzzle! Once I graduate, I plan on going to college for engineering. My favorite seasons are a tie between the Fall and the Winter. I love apple picking and Halloween. In my free time, I love to hang out with friends and snowboard. If I could pick any dream job, it would be engineering snowboards. There is actually a lot of math and science that goes into snowboarding. The angles of the sidewall and the composition of the board are designed to do certain things while riding on the mountain. I do a lot of volunteer work and I am very personable. This is my second year volunteering at a local hospital. I do a 5k walk every Thanksgiving day morning. I also volunteer at a 5k for childhood cancer. I am very excited to help people troubleshoot the problems this year at Help Desk.
Prateek Rana- Class of 2014
BIO: Hello, my name is Prateek Rana and I am a senior at Burlington High School. This is my first year taking Help Desk and it is extremely exciting to be able to interact with all of the other students and staff members in the school. Besides just helping other people with their problems, I also love learning and putting myself into different and challenging situations. Anyway, I have many passions that have developed over my life. During school, I am mainly involved in two clubs: Robotics and Chess. I started Robotics in my sophomore year after my passion for coding was ignited from taking C++. In addition to C++, I have also taken Visual Basic and am currently taking Web Design and AP Computer Science A. Anyway, my role in Robotics is that I am part of the programming team and help in developing the robot code every year. Even though I’m part of the programming team, I am always learning new technological features along the way that help augment my skills. As for the Chess club, I have been a part of it ever since freshman year and have been playing the game my entire life. During my freshman year, I was placed at the lowest board in competitions, but through my effort and determination, I rose all the way to the first board and became the captain this year. I have also won many awards for being in the chess club such as best player in the league. Outside of school, I have volunteered at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center as a patient assistant and won a certificate for my services. From all my accomplishments, I have gained a major amount of experience in helping others, especially in technological area. Overall, my ambition this year is to gain even more knowledge and try to educate people more about technology itself.
Burlington High School Help Desk 