KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Have a story idea to share with Tod? Send him an e-mail.
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Across the country, millions of students do their classwork on Chromebooks and every year thousands of those Chromebooks get damaged.
That’s why an Olathe-based computer repair company, iResQ, partnered with a national trade organization to teach students at Operation Breakthrough’s Ignition Lab — including East High School senior Khaleed Mims — some much-needed computer repair skills.
Mims was in second grade the first time he tried to repair home electronics, taking apart his family’s internet router.
“It wasn’t working and I tore it up even more, but I was 7 at the time and I just wanted to watch some TV,” he said. “I had to do what I had to do.”
Mims’ skills have improved considerably in the last decade. He received a Level 2 certification in Chromebook repair this week through the Cellular Telecommunication and Internet Association’s WISE training program.
“With tens of thousands, if not millions, of devices throughout multiple school districts all over the U.S., we now have a need for those to maintain repair to keep them in circulation and in students hands,” CTIA Vice President of Strategic Industry Programs Michelle James said.
Mims was among seven students to receive a Level 1 certification and four who earned Level 2 certification, the first class in the country to complete WISE Chromebook Level 2 certification.
“Level 1 is basically the ability to diagnose what might be wrong with a device,” James said. “A Level 2 is actually the skillset required to open the device and actually perform the repair.”
iResQ provided the Ignition Lab’s Computer Repair and Technology instructor, Karita Matlock, with training and certification in May.
Matlock then taught the students before taking the certification test earlier this week at iResQ, which celebrated the Ignition Lab’s students’ new certifications Friday during a ceremony at the company’s Olathe office.
“A third of our business, I’d say, are Chromebooks from across the country,” iResQ Co-Owner and CEO Michelle Crosby. “... The hope is that this program will enable schools to train their students to do this on their own on site. Then, the more difficult repairs, they can ship off if needed.”
That’s actually something Mims has already discussed with East High School’s administration.
“They were saying, ‘Oh, Kahleed, since you’re doing all these advancements in technology — especially Chromebooks, since that’s the computers we usually use — we can very possibly start a student tech support team,” he said. “I’ll be the lead of that because of my certifications.”
It’s just another step toward a future working with computers for Mims.
“Whenever I build computers or I’m working with them — my extreme passion is cybersecurity, but computers in general — I find that it never feels like work for me,” he said. “It feels like play. Time flies whenever I’m doing it, especially when I’m at the Ignition Lab and I have that camaraderie with my peers. It just feels amazing. I’m just flying through everything that I’m doing, I love doing it and the time just goes by so fast, so I know this is definitely my career path.”
He’s also confident he can do a better job fixing that internet router now.
“Easy — you could give it to me right now and I would repair it and give it back to you,” Mims said. “I’ve got to charge, though. You best believe that part.”
The Ignition Lab, which is powered by Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s Eighty-Seven & Running Foundation, is a workforce development program with several different career-exploration tracks.
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