Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Three Utah teens are headed to Boston to meet with hundreds of other teenagers and learn about the latest and greatest technology. The three already know a fair amount about technology thanks to their computer clubhouse in Salt Lake.
The Computer Clubhouse at the Sorenson Unity Center is open for any child, age 8 to 17 years old, in the Salt Lake area, and it's free. When kids go, they learn using current software and the latest equipment.
Dallin Alofipo, Jenna Casas and Steven Cabrera love to make, and record and edit their own music. In fact, that's what they were doing when KSL visited their clubhouse on Monday.
"I first started coming here just to do my homework and stuff, like after school," Dallin said.
But he was having such a good time and learning so much that he comes all the time now -- as does Jenna.
"They teach me a lot about technology stuff, so I usually come and edit videos and music and a lot of cool stuff," Jenna said.
The software the kids use is never older than two or years, and the hardware is updated about every five years.
Soon the three will travel to Boston to meet with hundreds of other kids from 100 other Computer Clubhouses around the country; some kids will come from as far away as New Zealand, India and Russia.
"They will be presenting different projects that they do within our clubhouse, and sharing information about what they've learned, and working in workshops learning new techniques and new technology," explained Janette Nelson, event coordinator at Salt Lake's Computer Clubhouse.
Dallin, Jenna and Steven wrote, shot and edited a video they'll be sharing. While creating the video was fun, they say they have to know how to do this.
"People won't hire you if you don't have computer education," Steven said. "In the real world, you're going to need it in your life."
The three leave Tuesday for Boston. They will be gone until next Monday.
E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com
