​On, Wednesday October 21 2015 Ms. Scheffer took me and another student of the Burlington Help Desk, Kevin Lynch, to Gillette Stadium to present our student run Genius Bar at the MasCUE/M.A.S.S. Technology Conference. I explained the projects I’ve done, why I joined Help Desk, and what I get out of the program. Once I finished with what I had to say I asked if there were any questions. One person asked me about the editing app I use for my videos and screencasts (QuickTime player and iMovie. I believe really helped people understand our program and possibilities for their own tech team .

After the session was over I was sitting outside the room and I had the principal of another school come up to me and she told me I did a great job.  She told me that after hearing me speak she turned to colleague and said that they need a program that models after our Help Desk.  She felt she was depriving their students of the opportunities that are out there. She wants her students to have the real world experiences that a student tech team provides. This was some really cool feedback. I thought it was crazy to actually be given the opportunity to attend this conference and speak. But knowing that I had an impact on my audience, so much so that they are motivated to start a help desk of their own, was an honor. This event gave me the real world experience I really can’t get in other classes. I thank Ms. Scheffer for allowing me to attend and present along side her and many other brilliant tech instructors.

On Wednesday, October 21st, the Burlington High school Help Desk went to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough for the Mass CUE Dare to Innovate technology convention. The event is for real life technology companies and their representatives to show what they do, their innovations, and show how they can help students and teachers. At the event Ms. Scheffer showed us around Gillette, viewing vendors while waiting for our presentation to start. Our presentation was on #techteamMA and Massachusetts schools that have a technology team to help students. Many presenters from all around Massachusetts came, including Kelly Gallagher founder of the Reading Rockets Help Desk, Chris Gosselin from Wakefield, Susan Kiley from Bishop Feehan, Johanna Wilson from Hamilton Wenham, and also Ms. Scheffer with the Burlington Help Desk students. Our part of the presentation included how the Burlington Help Desk was formed, how it helps out students, and how it provides information about the latest technology.

During my formal introduction of the presentation I was so nervous that I mentioned my name twice, literally. So before I presented my slides, I said, “if you didn’t heat me the first two times, my name is Kevin Lynch”, to break the tension of being nervous. The slides I presented showed my work and activities I’ve done in Help Desk so far. After finishing the presentation and to end the day, we went to a Google portfolio session. This session was about creating digital portfolios for students. From the convention I learned how to manage pressure and conquer my fears. I learned how to manage pressure by speaking in front of a large audience and not folding under the chance that I could mess up. At the convention I faced my fears because one of my fears is speaking in front of a big crowd. However, I took the risk, faced my fear and presented myself professionally. Overall I feel the day was a success. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I greatly enjoyed. I learned a lot of information about technology that I have not heard of, and also learned a bit about technology that I have known about, such as Canvas. I feel privileged that only one other student besides me in the Burlington Help Desk was able attend the convention.