AMBOY – Michael Shoemaker always had an interest in technology.

When he was picking his classes for his sophomore year, he thought he’d try Tech Help. Fast forward three years and the senior has enjoyed everything the class has had to offer. 

“I like technology, so I was interested in the class. I didn’t know a lot about technology until I actually got into the class,” said Shomaker. “I started to learn more about it and then it grew on me. It’s an easy class and you learn something new almost every day.

“I’ve learned to run wire and put ends on wires. We’ve taken Chromebooks apart and put them back together and find out what issues caused the Chromebook to not work correctly.”

The Amboy High School senior has repaired many components of a Chromebook.

Sometimes the school doesn’t have the parts to fully repair, but just having the knowledge of knowing what’s wrong is a win for Shoemaker.

“My favorite part of the class is actually working on the Chromebooks. They’re actually not too complicated,” Shoemaker said. “Sometimes a Chromebook comes in and the cursor isn’t appearing. The touchpad is unplugged. Plug it back in and it’s fixed. 

“There are more difficult cases like when something is stuck or the headphone jack malfunctions. Those aren’t fun.”

Shoemaker is always around technology.

He has been playing video games for his entire life and currently jumps around to so many different games he can’t tell you his favorite.

The senior also has his own computer at home and has been able to take things he has learned in Tech Help to fix his home computer.

“I recommend this class to everyone,” said Shoemaker, who enjoys learning from Tech Help teachers and advisors Amy Wiseman and Tony Aseves. “It’s a great class to learn even if you’re not planning on going into a technology field after high school, it’s still fun to learn.”

At the moment, Shoemaker doesn’t plan to work in the technology industry because when he graduates, he wants to enlist in the military.

He knows there are technology jobs in the military, but he still isn’t sure if that’s the angle he wants to take.