Computers and operating systems are no longer the newest addition to the technology department here at Westside. This past month, the school hired two new staff members: Nelson Paraza, a Florida native who will work as tech support, and Dwayne Belongia, the new head of the department and the man replacing former technology department head Rob Uchtman.

Both new members of the team have pasts in technology. Peraza has worked in tech support but never in an environment quite like Westside.

“I’m not familiar with modular scheduling,” Peraza said. “…I haven’t seen that at any other school I’ve worked at. Westside is also the only school I’ve seen with Apple computers.”

Filling Uchtman’s shoes is new department head Belongia. Prior to Westside he worked at a Creighton research center managing thousands of desktop computers and software.

As an employee of Westside, he will face tasks he’s never experienced before.

“Technology is pretty much the same in any organization,” Belongia said. “The difference is navigating through the hallways at different times of the day. That is certainly different.”

Beside the hallways, Belongia is ready to faces other challenges as well, including that of the computer pickup and turn in.

“Here the computers get turned in twice a year: once in and once out. So I have yet to experience that. That could be a challenge,” Belongia said.

With new tasks and positions for both employees, they will look to tackle whatever comes their way in the technology department in the following years.