St. Thomas club offers sessions on social media and other technology skills

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For senior Ted Zwieg, being the president of the Computer Science Club is more than just leading meetings of already computer savvy students. It also involves giving back to the school and the community.

The Computer Science club assists adults and senior citizens on social media sites such as Linkedin and Facebook. (Meghan Sheldon/TommieMedia)
The Computer Science club assists adults and senior citizens on social media sites such as Linkedin and Facebook. (Meghan Sheldon/TommieMedia)

Last fall, Zweig and his supervisor, Patrick Jarvis, a computer and information sciences professor, received a call from the Selim Center for Learning in Later Years. The center, a St. Thomas community outreach program, called hoping the club would be interested in providing consulting sessions for the center’s over 50-year-old members.

On March 26, the Computer Science Club offered its first consulting session. The sessions offer free guidance on using social media sites such as Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter, directions on how to manage emails, and on simple photo-editing skills.

Zweig noted that this is a demand-based offering, and “if people request more sessions, we will fill them as best as we can.”

So far, there have been two consulting sessions. Computer Science Club member senior Katie Piatt expects there to be more sessions as the Selim Center has sent an advertisement to its members.

“Although we haven’t had any alumni yet, I expect that many of our future clients will be alumni,” Piatt said.

No matter how big the demand, the club plans to keep the sessions small, either one-on-one or two-on-one, as some clients prefer to take the class as a couple. This would mean that the club would provide as many consultants as necessary.

“Whoever is the consultant for the session, [he or she] puts together a game plan before and addresses every question a client may have,” Zwieg said.

While the consultants are all members of the Computer Science Club, Zwieg emphasized the availability to become involved.

“We welcome everyone, even ACTC students. Come to a meeting; we meet every Thursday in the O’Shaughnessy Science Hall,” Zwieg said.

As for future plans for the program, we plan to keep offering our services as long as there is a demand, and from what we hear, it’s going well,” Piatt said.

Meghan Sheldon can be reached at shel9069@stthomas.edu.