On June 2, Ready, Set, Connect! ended its fourth session with a graduation celebration held at Oakland City Hall. Eighteen young people completed the program with a final project — to give a presentation in front of friends, family, and other supporters from the community.The presentations were done using PowerPoint and Prezi. The participants talked about websites they created to showcase the curriculum they used most and the material they created specifically for their community.
The event was kicked off with a few words from Director of Library Services at the Oakland Public Library, Gerry Garzon. He then turned it over to Andrea Guzmán, Program Manager, who shared the amazing accomplishments the group achieved this year:
- Total patrons served: 1,389
- Unique patrons: 716
- Repeat patrons: 683
- Hours logged: 953.5
Here are the top issues that patrons asked for assistance with:
- Basic computer skills
- Email and online communication
- Basic Internet use
The service provided by RSC participants can be summed up by this quote from Jacky Chan, who volunteered in the Asian Branch Library:
“I learned that helping my patrons not only brings them happiness, but is actually making a huge impact in their life, simply by just helping them to solve minor problems on their digital devices.”
We were lucky enough to partner with employees of the following companies who made presentations: Winning Strategies, Charles Schwab, Google, and Oracle. In addition, the group was able to make field trips to Schoolzilla, Bluewolf, History Project, Google, and OTX-West.
We’re working on a final report and expect to have that ready in a few weeks. In the meantime, send us an email if you’re interested in learning more about the program. The next session starts in October, and we will begin taking applications for participation in August.
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