An Aug. 20 Metro article about the use of computers by college students incorrectly attributed information to Beth Ann Bergsmark, a Georgetown University administrator. Because of a technical error, quotation marks were placed around a sentence that said computers are students' link to campus maps, course registration, reading assignments, e-mail from home, Facebook and instant messaging.
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3,000 First-Years, All Searching for a Connection
At U-Va. in Charlottesville, David Backer helps Tracy Dunn with her laptop. For the first time, freshman dorms are wireless, so tech squads were nervous.
(Photos By Mark Gong -- The Washington Post)
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There have been good years. And there have been bad years.
Like the time in 1998 when the folks on the help desk were so overwhelmed with calls that they had to stay into the night, and many callers couldn't get through. Or the time when they started selling computers to students but hadn't yet learned to put the boxes in the dorms. "The line started forming at 6:30," Townsend said. By 9, it was four blocks long. "I had to go down and try to placate these poor parents standing in the broiling sun. People were asking questions like, 'This is a major university -- can't you get this right?' "
In 2003, the Blaster virus hit at the end of August. Staff members tried to get word out to students before they came to campus and brought in extra employees for move-in day. But it was awful, Lockard said, just terrible. Some employees stayed overnight in dorms and worked all day Sunday, too. Some students lost photos, writings -- everything just wiped out.
In a good year, they don't just fix computers. They give directions to Kmart, advice about fans in windows, tips on cellphones and favorite restaurants. Sometimes even help families say goodbye. "We've been known to give them a hug or let them cry on a shoulder," Lockard said.
Across the hall from Colonna, Jack Storton was kneeling on the wooden bed frame, trying to connect the cable for his daughter Meredith. The legs and feet of a troubleshooter were just visible under the desk. "Okay," Nancy Kechner said as she emerged. "The trick is this little nibby thing right here."
Townsend checked on Pat Colonna, who was looking at the ID numbers on two computer boxes, trying to figure out which one was her daughter's. "It's going to be strange to go home," she said, "without her."
Her daughter laughed and held out her arms for a hug. "Mommy!"
Downstairs, Trombetta had his laptop going, but he was having trouble with his graphics-jacked-up video-game desktop.
"Shut it down," his mother, Pat Trombetta, suggested. "That's what I always do."
"You also poured water all over yours," he pointed out.
David Backer, the student techie for Kent Hall, took over.
"Now he's connected!" his mother said. "How cool is that?"
It was 10:20 a.m.
By mid-afternoon, Townsend was standing around outside. Everything was going smoothly -- too smoothly. "We keep waiting," he said, "for the other shoe to drop. We worry when it's like this."
In the dorm behind him, music was pumping out of open windows. Slowly but surely, parents were leaving. And in almost every room, laptop screens were glowing.
