Welcome!!

Welcome to our technology web pages! Here at ZachryMiddle School, we're proud of the progress we've made in technology. Do you remember when Apple //e computers were in every school? That's what we started out with in 1985. Then in 1990, it was Macintosh LCs with a 12 mhz processor... wow, we thought we were really cruising then! Our next giant leap in 1996 was to Macintosh PowerPCs with 120 mhz of power.

In 1998 NISD district standards were implemented and we moved onto Dell Pentium II, 266 mhz machines. This opened up the frontier of the Internet for us.

In 2001, with district bond money, every classroom was wired and cabled to accomodate a teacher station, as well as ports for additional computers. The bond also provided a new Dell GX150, PIII, 700 mhz computer for every classroom and a New Integration Lab. Teachers had access to e-mail, electronic grades, the Internet and more.

In December 2005, we were deployed with new Dell GX620 computers to all classrooms, three labs and the library. Besides coming with CD-RW and DVD ROM, these Pentium 4 HT computers are fast and efficient in tackling todays applications, including streaming video, video editing and graphic intensive applications. The old teacher stations were upgraded to Windows XP and are currently being used as student stations. Some classrooms have as many as 10 GX150s for student use.

More and more teachers are using digital projectors and wireless presenter mice to instruct with. Whether it's a PowerPoint presentation or relevant websites on the web, having this technology frees them from having to teach from their desks. Eventually, all classrooms will be fitted with projectors mounted from the ceiling.

We are not quick to get rid of our older computers; we try to utilize all our technology to the fullest extent, as you will see. Please click on our links (to the left) to find out more about where we are now with technology for our students, teachers and faculty. Enjoy!

John Petersen
Campus Instructional Technologist