Information Technology

IT: ‘Always at the forefront of … changes’

Our use of and need for technology has continually grown through my almost 25 years here at WMA. Our Information Technology Department has always been at the forefront of these changes, anticipating our needs but also reacting swiftly and e ciently to unexpected challenges over the years.

We (faculty, sta and administration) are always thankful when IT is there to help us when we stumble with technology that does not work for us; but their e orts often go unnoticed when 99.5% of the time the technology we use on campus works as expected and flawlessly. Our IT Department—Director Marxan Pescetta, Associate Director Josh Bain and Network Administrator John Fonte—works long hours throughout the school year and summer updating, troubleshooting, reconfiguring and installing all the technology we use … all while making sure our data is safe and secure.

During the pandemic, the necessity of technology grew exponentially, and we needed IT more than ever as we were pushed into the deep end of the technology pool and had to swim. As the WMA community began to tread water, IT embraced “Whatever it Takes” and helped every single member of our community to not

Mathematics Faculty member John Lombard works with some of the equipment— and exhibits the challenge of simultaneously balancing in-person instruction with remote learning—required in the classroom. FROM LEFT: Josh Bain, Dr. Marxan Pescetta and John Fonte

just tread water but to swim in this vast new ocean of technology and skills: Zoom, Canvas, synchronous learning, asynchronous learning, parent conferences, docu-cams, Bluetooth microphones, creating pdfs, uploading files and the list goes on. The hours they put in and the patience they demonstrated the last 18 months as they researched countless technology options, installed technology and software, produced training videos, helped others produce training videos, would troubleshoot on a moment’s notice when problems arose mid-class for a teacher, etc. Despite their patience being continually tested, Dr. Pescetta, Mr. Bain and Mr. Fonte maintained their professionalism and level of calm and led the way in “Whatever it Takes” as the rest of the community developed more competent technological skills, and became more proficient in swimming and navigating the turbulent waters we all experienced.