Bryant Vasquez Geek Squad Agent Jonathan Srisatta works with students from St. Francis International School in Silver Spring to build their technology skills during The Geek Squad Summer Academy at the school Sept. 19 and 20.

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The Geek Squad Summer Academy, a group of computer professionals dedicated to helping students build confidence in themselves and their technology skills, worked with students at St. Francis International School in Silver Spring last month.

The Summer Academy, which is sponsored by Best Buy, was at St. Francis through a partnership with Maryland Camp Fire USA from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sept. 19 and 20, working with students in grades four through eight.

“Typically, during summer months, they partner with a local organization; with us they were looking at doing a program after the school year started,” said St. Francis Principal Tobias Herkleroad. “We kind of worked as a trinity — the school, the Geek Squad and Camp Fire USA — so all the kids could participate.”

Teachers also participated in the training with the idea that they could integrate computer technology into classroom projects, Herkleroad said.

During the two days, students worked with digital photography, animation, digital video and music editing. They also had an opportunity to create multimedia projects of their own design.

Herkleroad said students who could afford it paid $20, which paid for a flash drive, book bag, T-shirt and name tag.

Everything else was paid for by Best Buy, he said.

“It was tremendous what they were able to bring in here and what we could do. They brought in 30 MacBook Pros for doing video editing plus 30 video cameras and 30 PCs for kids to take apart and put back together,” Herkleroad said. “The instructors really gave the kids a professional experience.”

Herkleroad said the school does not have hardware to match what the students worked with during the Summer Academy, but it does have enough for the students to continue working on their new skills.