Archbishop Rummel High School has been a pioneer in the use of technology since the early 80's when we set up our first IBM programming lab. Those early 8088 stations had less than 1 megabyte of RAM. They booted up using the newly developed 3" floppy disk. Hard drives and CD-ROMs were barely seedlings on the landscape. Our commitment to leadership in educating students for the 21st century has led to the addition of computers in a keyboarding lab, a developmental reading reading lab, an English writing lab, a media centered library, a multi-curricular Junior High lab and a Science lab complete with probe peripherals. Through a continuing partnership with Integrated Data Systems and the guidance of alumni member Ricky Couget '79, students have full access to the Internet over a high access T1 line. Laser disk systems, remote projection systems and classroom sets of graphing calculators round out the picture.
 

Step back with us for a moment to see how our school progressed over the years seeking its goal of technology.

1991-1992
Prehistoric Times

     In the not too distant past, all of the school's records were handled by a mainframe computer and a key punch operation.  The computer science classes relied on IBM PS 2 systems with a whopping 1 megabyte of RAM and 40 megabyte hard drives.  A few Apple computers even lurked in the recesses of our state-of-the-art programming lab.  The library was at the forefront of innovation with two "high speed" 386 PC workstations.

1992-1993:
Network Time!

     Our first Novell 2.2 network began on the Junior High campus in the  Reading Lab.  Booting up from 5 1/4 floppy disks, the workstations all  ran Learning 100, a Steck-Vaughn reading program.  Pioneer reading teachers, Patty Richard, Mary Smith (Web Mistress), and Cathy Miller managed the Novell network and struggled with temperamental wiring.  A needs  assessment by Xerox recommended that we embark on a major networking adventure on the Senior High campus, and thus began a long and productive relationship between alumnus Ricky Couget '79 of Integrated Data Systems and his alma mater.

1993-1994:
THE GRANT!

     The current technology revolution on the Archbishop Rummel campus began with an 8G grant from the state to teach revision skills in English using computers. The grant was written by part-time grant writer Denise Otillio in collaboration with English Department Chair Cheryl Mire. The new lab built by hand by Maintenance Assistant Elward Whitfield was a sight to behold, a classroom full of brand new 486/25 Compaq computers. Three classrooms clustered around the new English Writing Lab fed composition students into the room as needed throughout the school day. As a result,all juniors and seniors learned to write using computers for revision and editing. Three laser printers produced some of the most professional looking documents ever submitted to a high school English teacher. The state recognized the success of the program by ranking the project as Exemplary. It became apparent to teachers, students, and administrators that these computers would simply be the beginning of a dramatic change in the way students and teachers interact in the educational process. The administration made the leap from main frame to PC with the addition of a Novell 3.1 file server and staff work stations.   We all surfed the net using two dial up connections, one in the library and one in the new English lab.  No pictures on that Internet, only e-mail and text based information-Gophers abounded!  A group of seniors led by Tommy Wimprine and Darryl Bordelon even set up an Intranet bulletin board in the English lab.

1994-1995:
Upgrading In Progress!

     The networking adventure continued with the addition of the Guidance offices.  Work stations in the  English Writing Lab were upgraded to a whopping 8 megabytes of RAM to handle the latest versions of Word Perfect 6.1 for Windows and Microsoft Word.  Hard drives were also added to work stations to accommodate the demands of Windows multi-tasking.  The reading lab discovered sound.

1995-1996:
The Library

     This was a banner expansion year for technology at Rummel.  The construction of the Kenneth Bossetta Library sparked the development of a true media center with a Novell 4.1 network, student workstations and a CD ROM tower.  Once again 8g grant money allowed for the creation of a computer lab, this time in the Biology lab. Science classes would have access to 486 DX 80 workstations which allowed them to use peripheral attachments to measure alkalinity or temperature. Through our partnership with Infinity Data Systems, our forays into cyberspace would be supported by a new ISDN line, allowing 25 users simultaneous active surfing rights.  We were starry eyed at the prospect of Internet access at every workstation, but like the rest of the world, we quickly outgrew the limits of our ISDN access.

1996-1997
Teachers' Commitment

     Spring floods in 1995 wiped out the wiring in the Junior High reading lab, so the computers were relocated to a central classroom with a new file server and CAT 5 wiring. Teachers made the biggest commitment so far to the computer age, submitting student grades on  a floppy disk.  With the recognition that computers were firmly entrenched on our campus, we established a Technology Committee to prepare a 5 Year Plan. At the end of the year, Cheryl Mire stepped down as English Department Chair to work full time as the Technology Coordinator.

1997-1998:
The Pentium Age

     The school board embarked on a major technology expansion through a lease/purchase arrangement with Infinity Data Systems. The result was a state-of-the-art cross-curricular computer lab for the Junior High students. The new lab houses a full classroom of Pentium 133 computers with Internet access. The senior high English Lab computers were also replaced with Pentium 133 stations so that the existing Compaq 486's could be moved to a new keyboarding lab. The surviving remnants of the original 8088 IBM AT's were finally retired after nearly 15 years of service!

1998-1999
The Web Crew

     Recognizing that schools need financial assistance to provide current technology, the state government allocated both public and non-public schools nearly $38 per student to upgrade their equipment and increase Internet access. Archbishop Rummel received a welcome $48,000 for the purchase of 25 Pentium II 233 computer systems with 3 Gig hard drives and multi-media capabilities. The bulk of these computers replaced older equipment in the Science Lab and the Library. The remainder allowed expansion of computer access to a Foreign Language classroom, an AP Social Studies classroom, the Art Department and the Web Crew. Some of the leftover pennies allowed the addition of sound and earphones to the existing Junior High Lab. As a fringe benefit, the relocated older computers provided a second keyboarding lab and an upgrade of classroom planning computers to Windows 95.