Service Learning Final Report

Santa Monica Boys and Girls Club

Ken Vader
Course Name: CST 361 Service Learning
Instructor Name: Dr. Eric Tao
8/25/16

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Ken Vader
Service Learning Final Report
8/25/2016
 I. Executive Summary
This Service Learning Proposal outlines an agreement between the partner, the Santa Monica
Boys and Girls Club, and the Service Learner, Ken Vader. As per the agreement, the Service
Learner will report directly to the Director of Operations for the Santa Monica Boys and Girls
Club, Roy Shioda. The Boys and Girls Club has a need for additional IT assistance in the areas
of planning and deployment for a new building and also for general technical support. The
planning aspect will consist of equipment selection and purchasing, as well as assisting with the
planning of the network topology. The deployment portion of the agreement will cover the
installation and configuration of equipment, as requested by the Director of Operations for the
Boys and Girls Club. The scope of the technical support provided by the Service Learner is at the
discretion of the Director of Operations and will be determined on an as needed basis. The
planning and deployment portions of the project will take place at the Lincoln branch and the
new building, and will consist of a minimum of 30 hours on site. There will also be additional
work performed by the Service Learner off site including research of potential equipment
purchases and assisting in the planning of the network topology. Both the Santa Monica Boys
and Girls Club staff and its members will benefit by the Service Learner providing these services
as it will assist with opening the new building as quickly as possible.

Updated Summary
The Mar Vista project is on track to open as scheduled, on August 31st. The network
planning, engineering, and deployment was successfully completed by the Service Learner and
Mr. Shioda. Local network access and internet access has been tested throughout the building
with complete success. This project allowed the Service Learner to refresh his networking skills,
as well as engage in project management aspects for the first time. The Mar Vista project will
provide valuable services to the youth that live in the housing project at that location, services
that they would otherwise not have access to.

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Service Learning Final Report
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 II. Agency Introduction
For this service learning project the selected partner agency is the Santa Monica Boys and
Girls Club. The majority of on-site time will be spent at the Lincoln branch, which is located at
1238 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401. The main point of contact and project leader is the
Director of Operations, Roy Shioda. Mr. Shioda can be reached by phone at 310-361-8525 ex.
214, or email at roy@smbgc.org. In his role as Director of Operations, Mr. Shioda oversees
transportation, building operations, and the IT group. The Boys and Girls Club is an organization
set up to provide safe alternatives for youth summer and after school programs for underserved
communities. They traditionally place their branches in lower socioeconomic areas where
services are sparse. The goals of the Boys and Girls Club is to inspire the youth that they serve to
reach their full potential. The Club hopes to help create kind, responsible, and caring citizens and
reach the youth who need them the most. As a non-profit organization that functions largely off
of donations, fundraising, and grants, the Boys and Girls Club do not have a large budget for IT
support staff. With that constraint, the Club has a need for additional IT support staff but no
budget to hire a permanent employee. The specific areas of need in the Boys and Girls Club IT
department are on a new building project that will require both planning and deployment
assistance. This project will directly assist the Director of Operations by providing additional
labor at no additional cost. It will also indirectly benefit the youth members of the Club ensuring
a timely completion of the project, allowing them to access the new building as soon as possible.

III. Service Learner Introduction

Ken Vader
Contact Details:
Address: 1244 11th Street Apt. E, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Phone: 310-363-3282
Email: kvader@csumb.edu
School: CSUMB
Student Status: Senior
Major: Computer Science Software Engineering

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 Skills and experience: Work experience in help desk and system
administration in PC and Mac environments. Experience with Active
Directory administration, network configuration, and network support.
Provided phone and desk side support to all levels of clientele.

IV. Project Description

The Santa Monica Boys and Girls Club is currently in the process of constructing a new
building. As part of this process, the Clubs IT group will be planning and deploying an internal
network for that site, deploying approximately 25 new computers, deploying approximately 15
VoIP phones, and several other smaller equipment deployments. The Director of Operations has
requested the Service Learners assistance in both the planning and deployment phases for this
project. The planning phase will consist of selecting and ordering the network equipment,
computers, and portions of the audio and video equipment. The planning phase will also
encompass the planning of the network topology and internal addressing scheme. The
deployment phase will cover the installation and configuration of the networking equipment,
phones, and computers. The Service Learners schedule will include a minimum of 30 hours
onsite at both the Lincoln branch and the new location, as well as time spent offsite performing
research on equipment and assisting with portions of the planning. There is no need for a budget
for the Service Learner, as all purchases of equipment are a part of the Boys and Girls Club
project budget. There are no deliverables for this project, due to this being a support and
consulting project. The evaluation process will be a reflection of how effective the Service
Learner was in satisfactorily completing the assigned tasks in an expedient fashion.

V. Final Report
As the semester closes out, the Mar Vista project is nearing completion and is on track for a
grand opening on August 31st. As agreed upon with Mr. Shioda, the Service Learner has assisted
with the planning, engineering, purchasing, and deployment phases of this project, specifically
with the network infrastructure. The planning phase required finding all of the necessary
equipment to fit the Clubs needs while staying within the given budgetary constraints. Once the
equipment was selected, the Service Learner and Mr. Shioda completed the engineering phase by

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determining the logical and physical layout of the network and the IP addressing scheme. The
purchasing phase encompassed contacting multiple vendors to determine best cost and support
options for the Club. Deployment began at the Santa Monica location, where the router and
switches were unboxed and configured, then placed back in their boxes for transport to Mar
Vista. At the Mar Vista site, the Service Learner and Mr. Shioda installed the equipment into the
network rack, tested ports, and verified connectivity. At this point, the network infrastructure has
been deemed ready for member and staff use.

VI. Impact
The site at Mar Vista serves a housing project community. This community is underserved in
regards to youth programs, so the Boys and Girls Club is in an impactful location. By helping to
get this community resource ready for the public to use, the Service Learner has helped to give
the youth in this community a safe place to learn and play. Hopefully, this site will be here for
many years to come, allowing youth now and youth in the future access to technology resources
they would otherwise not have.

VII. Takeaways
The process of getting this new facility up and ready for the community has been a
tremendous learning opportunity. I have had the chance to learn about project management on a
level that most do not get to experience for themselves. One of the most important parts of the
project management experience was learning to manage other peoples expectations for the
project and their expectations for the timeline. Being open and honest, while respecting the
delicate nature of some conversations, was excellent at honing interpersonal skills. Another eye
opening part of the experience was how difficult it is to coordinate all of the different vendors,
contractors, and inspectors needed to complete the project. There were times where we needed to
have one vendor complete a small portion of their work just so that we could have an inspector
check that one thing. Some inspectors want the vendor or contractor there when they do the
inspection, so there were difficulties with scheduling every week. Ultimately, the thing to
remember is to know that things will not go entirely smoothly and be prepared to shift priorities
as needed.

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 VIII. Recommendations
For any other students engaging in a similar project the best advice is to be ready for shifting
responsibilities and shifting timetables. Things that were a priority to your partner yesterday will
get pushed to the back burner and something else will be the priority today. The ability to shift
gears and not be thrown off by these changes is incredibly important for successfully helping
your partner. They will have many more responsibilities than you can help them with, so help
them where you can and where they need it most.

IX. Evaluation of Partner

The Santa Monica Boys and Girls Club is a fantastic organization with a great mission. It would
be difficult to find a better contact and partner than Roy Shioda. Mr. Shioda was always helpful,
courteous, and open to discussion. With his great disposition it was a true partnership, more than
just volunteer work. The Club is lucky to have him on staff, and the Mar Vista project is a
success because of his involvement.

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Ken Vader
Service Learning Final Report
8/25/2016