It might be summer vacation, but a team of students in Cottage Grove are hard at work. The South Washington County School District is using students to help repair all the damaged Chromebooks and iPads that get turned in at the end of the year.

The district has about 19,000 students… which means that about 3,000 repairs are needed this summer.

“Some repairs are very simple: resetting a key or replacing motherboards,” said Amber Sorenson, the Technology Integration Coordinator for the district.

She says typically they would outsource the repairs, but this way is much faster and more affordable.

The student employees all took a certification class in technology repair which they get school credit for. Plus, they are paid by the hour all summer. But the biggest benefit might be the experience they are getting.

“These students are getting career skills. Valuable things like problem-solving, critical thinking, working together. They can take that with them on any path they go,” she said.

Student Ajulo Awow says this started as a summer job but might become a career.

“In the fall I’m going to Dunwoody for mechanical engineering. This job kind of sparked me wanting to go into that,” she said.