Spartan Scuttlebutt: Oakmont's Women in Technology leave a legacy
By Greg Smith OAKMONT ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Oakmont's Women in Technology participants (left to right) Desiree Hamelin, Joanna Gustafson and Randi Swihart helped the school receive a grant. COURTESY PHOTO

The energy and skill of Desiree Hamelin, Randi Swihart, and Joanna Gustafson are the reasons that Oakmont Regional High School recently received a $2,500 grant.

The grant from the North Central Mass. Tech Prep Consortium, according to Tech Prep Site Coordinator Wendy LeBlanc. The Tech Prep is a program designed to forge links between high schools and colleges that help high school students build career skills.

The grant funds will be used to purchase state-of-theart classroom technology, such as a scanner, color laser printer, digital camera, and computerized drawing tablets.

LeBlanc has high praise for her Women in Technology students.

"I've depended on them for years, and they've never let me down," LeBlanc said. "They're my go-to girls. They're amazing."

Even though the new technology won't arrive until after Gustafson, Swihart, and Hamelin have graduated, they're proud of their accomplishment.

"We'll be leaving a legacy for others to benefit from," Hamelin said.

The three Oakmont seniors participated in the Women in Technology Program during their junior year, which gave them the opportunity to explore the world of technology by working with engineering teams at Tyco/SimplexGrinell in Westminster.

"I worked on a project where we examined time and space management in the manufacturing process," Gustafson said. "My experience at Simplex kind of helped me decide on a career in engineering."

Gustafson, who is also one of the leaders of an initiative to bring solar panels to Oakmont, will study electromechanical engineering at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston next year.

Swihart, who will also attend Wentworth in the fall, worked on a new fire alarm with an amber alert last year at Simplex.

"It was really cool to think of new products and have the chance to work up a prototype," she said.

Swihart offers this explanation of her interest in the grant proposal: "The Tech Prep Mini-Grant proposal was an opportunity for us to take our knowledge of technology and give something back."

Hamelin, who is the senior class president in addition to a Women in Technology participant, is passionate about the need for Oakmont to keep pace with new technology. "Technology is all around us," she said. "We need to keep up with new developments in the workplace to enrich our educational experience and prepare us for the future."

Hamelin plans major in a science-related course of study at Mount Holyoke College next year.