As Madison College continues to define the new normal, the WolfPack Techies have reopened for business. 

The WolfPack Techies had been closed since March of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now open, the student volunteer organization is focused on the recruitment of volunteers rebuilding awareness of their services. 

“It feels a little strange being open again; we’re used to a large number of returning volunteers so our open hours and number of people in the room is down significantly compared to the past,” says Alex Roznos, manager of WolfPack Techies.  “I’m looking forward to rebuilding our teams’ skills and improving our availability to the students and faculty of the school.” 

WolfPack Techies were forced to close after school administrators made the decision to close all campuses and move most classes online at the start of the pandemic. They remained closed during the subsequent semesters because of the low in-person student count and restrictions on occupancy. 

A significant increase of in person learning options this semester has brought more students and staff back to the campus, thus making the fall 2021 semester a viable time to reopen. While Roznos says that reopening is exciting, it has also presented some significant challenges. 

“Opening necessitates recruitment of volunteers, preparing our network and ensuring our software is updated and in working order,” Rozonos says. 

 According to Roznos, it can take up to a semester before a volunteer has had enough experience to be comfortable working with all the systems and procedures the WolfPack Techies use. 

They typically have returning volunteers each semester who help train new Techies; this semester however, they have had to start fresh with no returning volunteers. 

The WolfPack Techies are a student volunteer organization primarily made up of IT students. They started in 2008, when a hardware essentials class decided to offer free computer repair to students and faculty.  After a successful launch, the Madison Information Technology Association (M.I.T.A) student group decided to expand their services. Today they are still offering free services to the Madison College community that include everything from; simple virus and malware removal, laptop screen replacement and data retrieval. 

In order to receive service from the WolfPack Techies, potential customers will need their OneCard and the charger for their device. No appointment is needed; you can stop by anytime they are open. They work on laptops, desktops and Mac, but are generally unable to work on phones or tablets. Their service is free of charge, but any part replacements will need to be purchased by the customer. Customers may need to leave their device with them while being worked on. According to Rozono, this can take up to two weeks depending on the number of devices being worked on and volunteer availability.  

For more information on the WolfPack Techies, including their available hours, readers can check out https://madisoncollege365.sharepoint.com/sites/WT/SitePages/Wolfpack-Techies-Home.aspx.. Rozono is currently working with Tech Services on moving the site into the student portion of the intranet rather than SharePoint, which he believe will improve their visibility and accessibility.