Aug 23, 2013 3 min read

Nearly a dozen Trinity students spent one of their last mornings of summer vacation volunteering to load hundreds of outdated school computers, laptops and printers in preparation for their Make a Difference Day.

The students and several building workers packed up eight pallets and four large bins full of the school equipment that was no longer useable and helped load them into a waiting Goodwill truck, where they later will be recycled or the parts sold.

The work went fast when leaders for both “The Leadership Committee” and the school’s National Honor Society realized on Thursday they might need more help, prompting several more students to show up promptly at 9 a.m. Friday.

“Girls, let the boys do something,” Trinity Area High School teacher Mary Anne Berty said about all of the hands in the pile. “You’re hogging the box!”

Trinity senior Sami Golaski said she was proud of their volunteer work as a way to kickoff the Make a Difference campaign that will ramp up in October. She was happy with the turnout and excited about the future volunteer work by the students.

“They were nice to come over to help on short notice,” Sami said. “We all come from different parts of the school. We each have different skills to bring together.”

In all, the students and staff quickly packed up 120 tower computers, nearly 60 laptops, about 50 printers and other miscellaneous equipment in an effort to help the community. Trinity Area School District officials agreed to donate the old equipment for a second straight year.

John Digon, the school district’s director of technology, said they donated mostly old computer monitors last year and usually reuse equipment by sending it to the elementary schools. However, after about seven or eight years, even the updates are useless and the equipment, which came from the district’s six schools, most be replaced.

“We try to get the most out of the machines as we can,” Digon said.

Michael Smith, president of Goodwill in Southwestern Pennsylvania, said the donation drive works for both sides by helping the school district to clear out old equipment and bringing in revenue for the organization. Last year, Goodwill in this area recycled 3 million pounds of unused computers, Smith said. He added that students can see there are more uses to old technology.

“It’s great to see all of the students here to help out. It made it go a lot faster this year,” Smith said. “I hope it’s also an education for them that there still is a for computers after they’re done with them.”

His daughter, Sarah Smith, a senior, has helped with the drive the past two years.

“It’s wonderful,” Sarah said. “We have a lot of people who were eagle to help out. It feels great.”

She said this year’s donation drive went much faster with the extra volunteers and she’s looking forward to the Make a Difference Day scheduled for Oct. 26. That day will include various donation and fundraising drives by Trinity and the four communities that make up the school district.