We’d like to introduce you to another SeniorComp volunteer  this month – José de León.  José admits he “loves computers”, and spends a lot of time with them.  He is also one of those people who “found” computers not too long ago, but has now become  quite proficient with them.

José was born across the border in Mexico, but came to San Antonio many years ago. He married here and raised a family.  He worked in the automotive industry for many years, and is one of the few people I know who can take the engine out of a car, break it down, and then rebuild it (without any parts left over!) so that it runs better than before.

José had a computer for several years, but underutilized it, as he eventually came to realize.  He used it only for e-mail and to do basic surfing on the internet. He occasionally saw other people use a computer in other ways, and got curious.  He kept hearing the term “copy and paste”, and wondered how a person did that, and what that meant.  He also saw a guy at Best Buy copy a program onto a floppy disk, and wanted to learn how to do that. Curiosity got the best of him, and he started looking around for a place to learn more about computers.

I remember seeing José come into the Resource Center when it was located in Central Park Mall.  He would hang around and ask questions, - increasingly sophisticated questions. Then he started taking Senior Comp courses.   Eventually he became a Teaching Assistant in those classes - wanting to help others learn about computers. José enjoyed that, and continues to help out as a Teaching Assistant.

This is one of the big advantages of SeniorComp: we use teaching assistants in all the classes, and most of them have gone through the courses themselves, so they know where the problem areas are.  We use anywhere from 3 to 5 Teaching Assistants in the classes.  They move around the class, helping anyone who has a problem. It is a very effective method, and one that José thoroughly enjoys doing.  He assisted in a SeniorComp class I taught, and was very helpful there. I’m pretty sure that he enjoys it too, because here is his current schedule for helping as a Teaching Assistant in those daytime classes: Monday pm, Tuesday am, Wednesday pm, Thursday am, and Saturday am.  I’m not sure about Friday or Sunday.  ?   This is a very involved Alamo PC member and volunteer!

José also created his own colorful business cards, and he  was brave enough to install a Windows XP upgrade on his home computer.  So José has changed from a minimal user of computers to a knowledgeable Teaching Assistant – mainly through classes at Alamo PC.   Alamo PC volunteers helped him, and now he’s giving back by helping others learn about the world of computers.  There’s a good role model for the rest of us – José de León.