Teacher and Staff Appreciation Spotlight | JiannHua Huang Technology Specialist

Parents' Association interview with The Orchard School’s Technology Specialist. JiannHua took some time to share a little bit about himself and his years at The Orchard School, where he's been for seventeen years!

 

Well everything about a computer! Not just about a computer...all about technology, for example the phone system, printers, projectors and more.

 

I worked for a consulting company seventeen years ago. Orchard was one of its clients and I came here. The company changed and Orchard had an opening so I stayed! It happened in only one or two days! At that time, there was only one person for computers. [So when I was hired] there were fifteen computers and we had two persons. Now we have about five hundred and fifty computers and two persons! We find a way to survive!

 

To keep up with new technology. Right now, we are trying to automate the data that is in Blackbaud. Nate (Orchard’s Technology Coordinator) and I are writing a program to automate data so that it’s easier to navigate. We are lucky to have Nate. I work closely with him. He has the whole picture on how to optimize many areas.

 

When we make it work!

 

I came from Taiwan [to the US] in 1990 and to Indiana in 1998. I’ve been at Orchard seventeen years! I am a Christian. I have two kids. They went to Orchard. One graduated and one left in sixth grade. My older son, Joshua Huang an Orchard alumnus, was in the top 3% at Carmel High School and is an Actuarial Scientist and works with an insurance company. My younger son Joseph Huang, is at Ball State University. He wants to be a vet. He is also an organist at Chinese Church in Carmel so he comes back every weekend. My wife Sherry Ding is the Director of the choir at the Chinese Church in Carmel...they all play - not me!

I go back to Taiwan once a year during Spring Break. We are the only family here - my mother, elder sister and younger brother are all in Taiwan.

 

My younger son when he come to Orchard was very young - three and very shy - hiding away, so shy. Orchard helped him to gain confidence and we really appreciated that. I like the Orchard culture. Orchard has no race problem so I really feel comfortable at Orchard. I feel the teachers really teach how to respect others. The students are very polite because of the teaching. Of course we take an effort to provide the best technology!! The whole community is very friendly and I feel the support when I need something. It is a great working environment for me.

 

I always have this in mind - technology is only a tool. Right now you have a better tool than before but technology should never replace education. The teacher is the one in charge of how to use technology. It is up to them.

 

I think I know how to write a program so we can automate a lot of things. Because of my son I wanted to help him with his English so I developed a program to help him memorize the words. I developed a program to help the teachers called “Roots Within the Word” which includes a dictionary. It is a website that students can log into. It is individualized and develops long term memory. The questions keep coming back until they [the students] pass. The teachers used this program from 2008 - 2016. Math Facts were also a problem so I developed a Math Facts program for the school. I also developed a program for 3rd to 4th grade Spanish. I spent five years of my own time developing those programs so I was exhausted.  We stopped using the programs about two years ago. My programs are not as pretty as those today but they are individualized and I considered all the possibilities when I wrote those programs. I’m just one person.

 

Everybody has to take care of the computers. Some are not very careful and treat the computer like a book.

 

To become a useful person, to help others and not to be a burden to other people.

Click here to read the previous Teacher and Staff Appreciation spotlight.