With freshmen at the four Bremen Community High School District 228 schools getting Apple iPad minis this school year, some technical glitches were expected.
Enter Kaizha King.
At Tinley Park High School, where more than 300 minis were distributed, King is one of eight students comprising the Titan Tech Squad. The group members were recommended for the job by teachers and had to apply.
King, a junior, has the tech savvy to help not just the freshmen boot up and understand their new iPads, but also teachers who are wrestling with the new apps that feed data to the iPads.
King, 16, isn’t planning to be a computer expert by trade. She just loves to learn and taught herself enough to make her knowledge evident to others. She also has the ability to instruct others.
“The Titan Tech Squad has spent hours already assisting both students and staff members to both set up the new devices and troubleshoot any issues that have occurred. Kaizha has been an amazing member of the squad,” school spokeswoman Katie Udstuen said.
Minis also were distributed at Oak Forest High School, and at Bremen High School in Midlothian and Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills, the district’s other high schools.
Being on the tech squad is a new role for King. But she already has been involved with student council and is an executive board member of Seekers Club, which promotes cultural diversity. She is also a National Honor Society tutor and plans to be inducted into the society this school year, and she is active in Youth in Government. This year, she also was invited to be a student ambassador.
She especially enjoys student council.
“I like the structure of it,” said King, who has been on the student council since her freshman year. “I enjoy the government aspect of it. I want to be a lawyer some day, so government is my thing.”
Being a lawyer has always been a dream of hers.
“I’m a good arguer and I like history so much. History is one of my favorite classes,” she said. “It just really interested me. People say all the time, ‘You’ll be a lawyer some day’ and I say, ‘Yes, I know.’ “
King is interested in attending an Ivy League school. Harvard University would be her dream school.
“But it is a dream,” King said. “I want to go to school somewhere in the East or West. I don’t want to stay here.”
Until then, King, the daughter of Bernice and Keith King, of Tinley Park, said her goals are to get involved as much as possible, “do community service and get a high score on my ACT.
“I am very goal-oriented,” she said. “I want to be successful lawyer some day, and that is what I strive for.”
She is debating whether to pursue a career in corporate or political law.
“Some day, I’d like to be a partner at one of the successful law firms I’d apply to, and that’s likely to be in New York,” she said.
Cheryl Dangel Bartolini is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
