This year thirteen students from the Cisco Networking Academy at Newport High School spent their spring break networking computers in Eastern Europe. Working with the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club the students secured the donation of 150 computers from local companies. They then raised funds to pay for a shipping container to move the computers by sea to Slovakia. Paying their own way the students then flew to Slovakia to install and network the computers.
Once they arrived in Zilina, Slovakia, the students began the process of installing Windows XP (donated by Microsoft and the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club). Once the computers had operating systems they were all networked together and connected to the Internet.
The project was extremely successful. Altogether the students networked 150 computers. The library now has a public Internet lab for the first time. Eleven schools have new computer labs. A hospital has a lab for the doctors and patients.
Students are already beginning to raise funds for another project next year. They have a goal of donating 300 computers.