Arkansas school has an 11-year-old IT department -- no, really, an 11-year-old

Seeing as our high school network hijinks pretty much led to semi-permanent suspension, our barren hearts were actually warmed by the story of 11-year-old Jon Penn, who has been in charge of his elementary school's 60-machine network since last year. The previous network administrator at the Arkansas school simply up and left, leaving the IT systems in shambles -- and in the hands of Jon's mom, the school librarian. Jon's since scrubbed the aging Windows 98 machines of their accumulated viruses and spyware, and he's installed a firewall and virus / spam filter to keep things clean while he works out a plan to move to Windows 2000 and centralized system management. Right now though, Jon's got his hands busy doing everything from fixing everything from paper jams to revising server configurations, and it sounds like he's having a ball -- he says he's been testing out virtualization products lately, and he's studying up for A+ technician certification this summer. Looks like school's a lot more fun when you're running the show, no?

[Via Switched]

[Aguiluz @ Mar 31st 2008 6:24PM]

You see? Get kids on the IT department and they'll figure everything out.

Too bad "comp nerds" like him are being bullied at school. :(

[Moo2 @ Mar 31st 2008 6:32PM]

theres a quote my spanish teacher once said:
"you may think that nerds and geeks are total weirdos now, but listen. geeks will always make more money and get hotter chicks than anyone else." (or something like that)

this kid will be a millionaire and have as many supermodel girlfriends as hugh hefner (sp?)

[Aguiluz @ Mar 31st 2008 6:34PM]

Right on there Cow- Err... Moo!

[JAmerican @ Mar 31st 2008 6:36PM]

I was the computer guy for my house when I was 10. LOL!

[Jordan @ Mar 31st 2008 6:49PM]

The new world record for most number of senseless posts goes to Aguiluz. XD, just playing with you.

[Kurt MacD @ Apr 1st 2008 2:28AM]

Well yes and no, it is a shame that the bullying occurs yes, but I'm pretty sure an 11 year old, doesn't have the knowledge to run an entire server setup by himself. No no, he really actually is a newb, not in a literal sense like everyone thinks of, but rather, 11 years of life experiance isn't enough to be a "pro" at anything. Windows 2000 and centrilized server management? Still not hitting the nail on the head there, try windows XP, a handful of hand written scripts (which I assume this kid probably can't do, no offense, I can't even do scripts that well and I'm 17), perhaps try using deepfreeze and using a standard image system wide across all the computers that is optimized on one computer to avoid having to indivigually set up each computer.

[ReggieXuk @ Mar 31st 2008 6:52PM]

Some things people just don't mind doing, for free or for money.

[jP @ Mar 31st 2008 7:15PM]

At my school I don't SEE much bullying, but I am sure it happens. However, I don't think it may happen as much to "computer nerds" as it used to. We have people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak to thank for that. IMHO.

[Ron Hands @ Mar 31st 2008 7:21PM]

Sounds like M$ needs to spread some love and ship that boy 60 licenses of XP and a copy of Server 2003 with plenty of cals. Or maybe Apple could be the hero and send him 60 new iMacs and a server. I love to spend someone elses money.

[Mr.Tech @ Mar 31st 2008 7:21PM]

He reminds me of myself when I was only 11. The teachers will always ask me to fix the Mac/TV/VCR/DVD etc etc... but being a nerd wasn't bad =D. I get in trouble for hacking into the database for stealing everyone's information but that was only 3 times!

[Chebwa @ Mar 31st 2008 7:44PM]

@Moo2

"geeks will always make more money and get hotter chicks than anyone else"

o_O

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 31st 2008 7:44PM]

I hand built, networked and upgraded my Church's 30-machine computer lab when I was 14.

But unlike Jon here, I was installing Windows '98 as a brand NEW operating system, lol.


On another note, the show "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" has a secret question every game that donates an entire computer lab to a pre-picked school if the player answers correctly. Hopefully this story will bring Jon's school into their eyes, or at least another computer charity. Its sad to see Windows 2000 being installed as a new OS, however it could have been worse: Vista.

[DWells55 @ Mar 31st 2008 7:57PM]

Yeah, kids are a lot more capable than they're given credit for. I know I was running my home network at least in my pre-teen years, installing firewalls and anti-virus software, updating drivers, configuring the router, setting static IPs, etc. Luckily I was raised in a household where my father worked in the IT field and I always had internet access. I was encouraged to learn by my parents and I wanted to learn, so I did. If you give kids the tools and encouragement they need in order to learn new things, you'll find that many are capable of some really advanced stuff.

Really, the difference between techies and non-techies is three things: a willingness to learn new things, the ability to follow directions, and enough determination to deal with frustrating situations. A lot of tech related stuff isn't that hard - just Google things you don't know, follow the directions, and make an effort to retain that information. If you're willing to repeat those steps whenever you encounter something you're not familiar with, you can learn a lot.

[Dave @ Mar 31st 2008 8:13PM]

Somehow, just somehow, I'm somewhat skeptical an 11 year old is getting A+ certification...unless getting an A+ cert has become exceptionally easy (read: DeVry and/or ITT Tech)

[Libb @ Mar 31st 2008 8:33PM]

Reminds me of my time in elementary school, I was constantly fixing the crappy old systems in our school. Only thing was, instead of Win 98/2K, we had Apple IIc's in the classrooms and a computer lab full of state-of-the-art PCs running PC-DOS 6 (and on the rare occasions we were "allowed" to open it, Win 3.1). Goddamn I feel old...

Of course, elementary schools aren't the only ones behind the times, my high school didn't move to Windows XP until the year I graduated, and trust me, me (a relative white hat) and my blacker-hatted buddies used to find all sorts of fun holes in the crappy security protocols they had - Win 98 (but they didn't bother disabling the MS-DOS Prompt - idiots), some crappy web filter (that blocked more good sites than the bad, and was easily fooled by proxies), an idiotic remote-control/desktop-viewer in the computer lab (meant to catch kids goofing off and surfing the web, too bad it was incompatible with the Java IDE our programming class used, so if you WERE doing your work, when the teach checked up on you, your system rebooted spontaneously...), and a school server with no sort of permissions (we once used the school server as a music swapping server, and we even installed and ran StarSiege:Tribes off the server, which was laggy as all sin, but a nice POC).

Makes me almost misty-eyed for school...

[Don Giovanni @ Mar 31st 2008 8:48PM]

Look at him..
The bitches at his school smell money all over that kid.

Hope he doesnt turn out like the Dell dude!

[Snowraver1 @ Mar 31st 2008 9:31PM]

@Dave

A+ is a bulls**t cert. It IS easy as pie if you can memorize the questions off the practice tests, which is how most of the people get the cert, which is why it means nothing. All it means is that you can read a horribly dry book, do the same quesions over `till you memorize them, and take a test.

Really, not to take anything away from this kid though, it is VERY impressive for him. Having an A+ cert at 11 would be pimp!

[Phour ZwanZig @ Mar 31st 2008 9:50PM]

Yeah it doesnt take much Dave to get A+ Cert. I can get it thru work by reading a text book and then taking a test at the Tech to complete. Can be done in just a month or 2.. Think they give us 3 mths at work..

And Snowraver1 is right, A+ doesnt mean Jack anymore.. In the eyes it does but I know a few ppl that are A+ cert and I wouldnt trust them with a PC.. I can run circles around them and I have no schooling background other than my self taught knowledge..

But think of this Kids resume thats the big kick. Who wont hire him at 18, fresh outa HS, with 7-8 years exp in IT.

[Taylor @ Mar 31st 2008 10:36PM]

Going off of the comments about school computer systems. Man, my school has a nice system, newer computers, and a pretty good IT squad putting out those fires (when kids do stupid stuff and they block about ten proxies a day). But that doesn't stop kids from working around it. I've got a freind who has to comes up with a new solution every week to get WiFi (yeah, it's weird that we have WiFi at a high school) on his iPod Touch, and then get past the filters.

Seriously, kids and teenagers are more than adapt to use technology. I think it's because they don't get frustrated as easily as adults. Much like DWells55 said...

[tribalmasters @ Apr 1st 2008 5:33AM]

Chebwa, that doesn't apply to hot emos like you, no one would know you were a geek :D

[Seminole @ Apr 1st 2008 8:17AM]

Libb,

So true. When I was in high school we were able to get past all the security they put on the computers and install/ do whatever we wanted. I got a nice full version of Macromedia Flash, Dreamweaver, etc. off the hdd. We also installed Counter Strike on the server so we had a lag-free place to play at night when everyone went home. But the best was this kid who installed Dameware on the teachers computer and would log on when she walked away and change grades. We ended up getting caught when the IT guy came to the class to install something and one kid logged in as admin for him...

[Sam @ Apr 1st 2008 3:15PM]

ahh, the nostalgia. I'm sure lots of people around my age (19) remember teachers allowing us to do "alternative projects" with technology. Really classy move by the teachers that realize potential and allow a student that opprotunity. I hope Mr. Gates sees this (as he learned his skills using school funded computers) and helps the guy out.
Tangent: Doesn't everyone remember "that kid" who would claim he could change grades "on the mainframe" if he really wanted to? I always wondered why "that kid" thought it was impressive to announce he was too stupid to BS his way through the American public school system... (not that I was a great student by any means) I'll have to go visit him at burger king this week and say hi... haha

[Ben @ Apr 1st 2008 5:53PM]

Anyone who thinks Windows 2000 is bad, I disagree. I love my 2K box! So much more stable than XP or Vista. Anyone who thinks they should have XP on any of those machines must have not read that they currently run 98, 2K needs much less resources to run compared to XP, he should just install xubuntu and be done with it!

[Chebwa @ Apr 2nd 2008 11:31AM]

"I love my 2K box! So much more stable than XP..."

Nah.

[Jim @ Mar 31st 2008 6:24PM]

Stories like this just make me feel stupid.

[Aguiluz @ Mar 31st 2008 6:27PM]

That would be in a good way?

[Totalfixation @ Mar 31st 2008 6:29PM]

I guessing because he is older and a 11 year old knows just as much or even more than him. =P

[Bobs @ Mar 31st 2008 6:57PM]

That kid actually looks like me when i was toying with my old junker computers. too bad i wasnt offered my dream job in middleschool, IT

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Mar 31st 2008 8:11PM]

I feel your pain, man. I'm still trying to get my A+ cert and in the middle of an MCSE course. :s

[computer.dude.28 @ Mar 31st 2008 10:50PM]

Damn, I'm 15 and I wish my school would let me be IT :D we just got some fat guy that does it..

[bartoron @ Mar 31st 2008 6:24PM]

But can he make the computers blend?

[Aguiluz @ Mar 31st 2008 6:26PM]

No.

[Blaktornado @ Mar 31st 2008 6:59PM]

I think the correct question would be "But will he blend?"... and yes, he most likely will.

[ethana2 @ Mar 31st 2008 9:13PM]

I still think the open movie folks need to use distributed rendering instead of sun servers...
but those are 32 bit machines there, so for blending complicated frames, they would choke.

It's a shame the kid used windows instead of edubuntu.

[Joe @ Mar 31st 2008 9:22PM]

"Thats 11 year old boy dust. Don't breath it in."

[Jack @ Apr 1st 2008 7:25AM]

blend, no, play doom, yes

[musicphreke @ Mar 31st 2008 8:59PM]

I thought it was in Alabama, not Arkansas?

[Aytunc @ Mar 31st 2008 6:27PM]

ahhh, the youth

he is going for Win2000

tssk tssk tssk.....

[Aguiluz @ Mar 31st 2008 6:28PM]

Read the article. They are on a shoestring and their comps are old. Yeah? Going for Vista? No... I don't think the outdated hardware can handle it.

[Rususeruru @ Mar 31st 2008 6:29PM]

Having lived in West Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana... it's fortunate that the Arkansas school isn't using 95, baby steps my friend baby steps.

[Totalfixation @ Mar 31st 2008 6:31PM]

I'm sure this news will get to Microsoft somehow and hopefully a charitable donation of XP copies will be ok, either that or better computers.

[hypereric @ Mar 31st 2008 6:31PM]

I don't understand the move to win2000. Don't get me wrong, I'm not putting him down at all... but administrating win2000 w/ i would presume 2k server is a "little" cumbersome compared to xp pro and 2003. unless it's budget, then MS should step up to the plate.

[Jordan @ Mar 31st 2008 6:47PM]

I'm pretty sure from my experience windows 2000 was the worst operating system since the invention of dogs.

[Jason @ Mar 31st 2008 7:18PM]

Heh- this kid needs to learn the power of Linux. I could've done that when I was 11 - 4 years ago. But Windows 2000? the computers are old. Putting linux on would make them more modern. And my school won't let me run the network :-(

[CL @ Mar 31st 2008 7:35PM]

"I'm pretty sure from my experience windows 2000 was the worst operating system since the invention of dogs."

I believe nothing can beat Windows ME for that title.

[CraigJ @ Mar 31st 2008 7:35PM]

@Jordan. I think you mean Me. Windows 2000 was far better than windows 98 / NT 4.0...

[Reader @ Mar 31st 2008 7:42PM]

2000 is a solid and good working OS, dunno where you're getting your info on it...

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 31st 2008 7:55PM]

@Jordan:

Correction. ME was the most unstable release of Windows so far.

[BigD145 @ Mar 31st 2008 8:41PM]

Win2K is a perfectly reasonable, networkable, OS for older computers. I've run it on about 40MB of RAM. I'd like to see you try that with XP or Vista.

[Jordan @ Apr 1st 2008 1:51AM]

I stand confused and corrected.