With technology comes opportunity, and Y staff is leveraging teen interest in how computers work in order to help them build a computer from start to finish. After taking a computer apart, that is. The new offering was dreamed up by membership director, Trevor Tibbetts. Trevor – together with Rudy Bottse, program coordinator – has been helping kids engage in screen time to build community and confidence. After all, gamers of today hold the potential to be the programmers of tomorrow. And potential is what the Y is all about.

“We usually play Fortnite for Playstation 5, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Nintendo Switch,” said Trevor. While these games and platforms may not sound familiar to many readers, they are the catalyst to bring middle schoolers of all ages together in the Y’s community room. Gaming Club, co-taught by Trevor and Rudy, attracts an average of 8 to 10 middle school youth each week. “We don’t really have a hard age limit,” Trevor added, “teens are welcome to come play and some weeks we get a really full crowd. Trevor listens to what the teens want and delivers. “One day when we were playing Smash Bros., I brought packs of Pokemon cards,” Trevor said, “and offered them to any of the kids who could beat me in the game. It took the whole hour, and the kids teaming up on me, 3 versus 1, but they finally won the Pokemon cards from me. I don’t think we’ve ever had as many kids in the club as that day. Word of mouth spread fast and everyone wanted a shot at winning.” It’s that kind of organic involvement Trevor fosters in his offers, and he’s got a lot planned.

For Trevor, technology is not all fun and games. In May, he’s piloting his “Introduction to Computer Building” program for youth participants. His inspiration came from his personal intention to build a personal computer at home. Creative guy, right? No doubt. And he’s offering to share his creative curiosity with anyone interested in building a machine most of us depend on for our daily workload and family engagements. Trevor will be handling all the components in the class for safety reasons, though he’ll have various computer parts from older builds available for teens to investigate and handle. This is Trevor’s first time teaching a course like this, though he built his first computer at 16 when he took the Computer Technology course at Bath Regional Vocational Center. Now, with support from the Y, Trevor is paying his knowledge forward, giving kids another lens through which to view technology and aspirations.