“I have the power!” – Dolph Lundgren as He-Man in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

That quote pretty much sums up what it means to be an Information Technology Student Associate (ITSA). All of the technology related tasks and issues we see here at the Help Desk represent Skeletor, the villain in He-Man. Like Skeletor, these tech issues come between the well-being and productivity of people. The ITSAs represent He-Man. Together, the ITSAs work together to prevent Skeletor (or in this case tech issues) from getting in the way of the client’s well-being.

ITSAs have an influence on the people that seek support from the Help Desk. For example, we hold the key to connecting people to eduroam, which allows them to continue to do amazing things. What is that key you ask?… Well, I cannot tell you for security purposes (don’t you know to keep your keychains to yourself?). All jokes aside, the key is to enter your full Swarthmore email address in the username field. If that key does not work, never fear – I have more keys on the keyring.

The learning that happens while at the Help Desk is endless and always full of surprises. One example of learning on the job was when a client and I discovered that flash codes serve a purpose – who would have thought that 3 red 6 blue from the power button meant a system board failure…

At the end of the day, a lot of knowledge is gained on the job: knowledge about clients, about their relationship to technology, the uses of software, and what it takes to continue to be the powerhouse that Swarthmore ITS is.

ITSAs have the power, and we would like to share it with you.

~Adriana Cavazos, ITSA