IT
over the years, including the ongoing renovations of the Suter Science Center. While he worked for Harman, Stoltzfus also ran his own web hosting business on the side. One of his clients was Eastern Mennonite School (EMS), which created a full-time IT position and hired Stoltzfus to fill it in 2008. With just under 400 students in grades K-12, the school’s IT needs are modest enough that Stoltzfus handles most technology-related issues (Andrew Gascho ’09 assists him, and teaches digital communication classes at EMS). Those range from systems maintenance to troubleshooting to repairs to keeping up with the rapidly changing digital world by planning things like a Chromebook-for-every-student initiative that the school is exploring. “That’s something that really attracts me about working at a place where there isn’t a huge technology infrastructure,” Stoltzfus said. “I can be involved in all those different things…. I enjoy seeing the whole picture.” (Since starting at EMS, Stoltzfus’s job has expanded well beyond that whole IT picture; now the director of business affairs, he also oversees school finances and a few other operational matters.) There’s never a time when there’s not something new to check out. With a relatively tight budget to be conscious of, for example, Stoltzfus has been exploring opportunities offered by open source software. “I really enjoy learning new things. That’s one thing that I’ve always enjoyed about technology – it’s always changing,” said Stoltzfus. “As you learn about things, you realize more and more how much you don’t know.” Like Stoltzfus, Jon Harder ’82 also works as a technology generalist for a small school system, handling “pretty much anything to do with technology” for Mountain Lake (Minnesota) Public Schools. In addition to all the usual school troubleshooting and software updating, Harder has been able to put his programming background to good use as the schools’ technology coordinator. When a need was identified for a computerbased method for staff to reserve rooms
Andre Hertzler '92, Ben Brunk '97, and Obe Hostetter ’00 all work in information technology in support of the Rockingham County (Va.) public school system.
Mike Stoltzfus '98 moved from the business sector to Eastern Mennonite School in 2008.
or vehicles to use, Harder couldn’t find existing software that fit the bill. Instead, he created his own web-based application that’s now in use. It’s the kind of thing that’s kept the job interesting for the past 14 years (prior to which, he was a software engineer in the Twin Cities). “I guess I’m a real problem solver,” he said. “It’s always fulfilling to run into new challenges and figure out how to do something.” When Harder was at EMU, tinkering with the mainframe computer that used to be in the old administration building or the few really early Apples that belonged to the psychology department, he had no clue that computers were going to become such a thing. The Internet
as it exists now wasn’t something anyone could conceive of. That makes it hard to guess as to what sorts of technologies people like him will be troubleshooting in schools in decades to come. Fewer keyboards and more spoken commands, he suspects. Hostetter concurs on the voiceinterfacing thing. 3-D printers are coming, too. Maybe “wearables” like Google Glass will make their way into classrooms eventually. Whatever it is, it’s bound to be something that seems hard to imagine right now. “It is pretty amazing what all we can do now that just a couple years ago wasn’t possible,” he said. — Andrew Jenner www.emu.edu | crossroads | 27