Mrs. Gina Fredrick, Director of Technology and Information Services and NDA alum, is constantly working on technological advancements for our school.

Unfortunately most of these advancements are “behind the scenes on the network.” The work includes all of the teachers’ computers upgraded by fall and the addition of “network equipment that helps keep our internet speed up and files safe.”

Fredrick’s job is not just major advancements in the beginning of the year, but daily she takes care of “immediate student and employee technology questions or issues, minor server activity to ensure we are safe from viruses, and upgrades and updates to keep our technology working.”

She also is in charge of all the printers, copiers, phone system, bells, network and email accounts, student newsletters, computers, networking equipment and servers.

“There is always something to do,” said Fredrick.

The most difficult part of her job is not knowing when or why equipment fails.

We have had several issues with a copier and scanning capabilities this year and there was a lot of trial and error steps to finally find the actual problem,” said Fredrick. “When the resolution doesn’t stand out right away, it’s difficult to narrow it down.”

People are very dependent on technology, and Frederick completely understands why people get frustrated when it takes a while to solve a problem.

“That is the most difficult part, trying to solve something quickly when it’s not immediately apparent how to solve it,” she said.

The best part of her job is when everything is working well and everyone is productive and happy with the school’s technology.

“It takes a lot of equipment, money and work to keep things running, so it’s gratifying when it continues running without hiccups,” she said.

After graduating from NDA in 1997, Frederick initially went to UW-Stevens Point for Elementary Education but changed majors to Computer Information Systems and graduated with a degree in CIS with a minor in Sociology.

When she was studying education, the school of education was getting “more and more difficult to be accepted into because so many people wanted to become teachers.”

She decided to change her goal to technology and continued from there.

“Clearly I couldn’t make up my mind as I found quite a few studies to focus on in college,” she said.