By Caleb Jones

One of the most interesting friends I have is Peter McEldowney. He's a graduating senior like me; but, he is the unofficial IT man at WHS.

Peter works at Coldstone Ice Cream in the evenings for pocket money, yet his unpaid job keeps him busier on campus; Peter is the guy teachers go to when they're having problems with their computers. I've seen Peter take apart a PC and put it back together with replacement parts in less than thirty minutes.

Peter gets called out of class fairly often by the teachers who know of his expertise. Apparently, if a teacher puts in a request to the official IT people it could take too long to get back online; hence, the need for Peter to save the day.

Once Peter starts taking computer classes at SRJC, he'll probably excel because he already knows much about the hardware and software of computers, and he likes working with computers. Peter will be successful because his talent and interest in computing should led to wonderful career opportunities, once he gets his BS degree, because the computing business is constantly changing and growing. Local businesses are trying to increase the number of visas for computer engineers from India because of the lack of trained people here.

Sooner or later, almost everybody needs someone like Peter for computer solutions. It's the nature of the machines that they need maintenance which the average person cannot perform. There will always be a demand for Peter's expertise. The higher the degree he gets the better the career. There are always demand for people with engineering degrees. Who knows, maybe Peter will invent a new product while going to college that makes him wealthy. Peter is shrewd enough to come up with something new and make it successful. People sometimes seem to get rich quick in the technology business by coming up with something new and selling it on the internet around the world.

I think Peter will be one of these people.