If you ask many college students what they want to be doing on any given Saturday morning after a hard week of classes, many might answer — sleeping.
But throw in the opportunity to build a personal, customized, top-of-the-line gaming platform with a Core i9,13th Gen processor for a Make-A-Wish Minnesota recipient, and that answer changes radically.
In fact, a handful of Dunwoody students studying programs like Cloud Engineering Technology, Computer Networking Systems, Cybersecurity, and Web Programming & Database Development jumped at the opportunity to spend a rainy Saturday morning in April doing just that.
When Owen Virtue, a Computer Networking Systems student, learned of the event through his instructor, he said: “I was like, I’ll be there!”
Make-A-Wish Minnesota grants life-changing wishes to children diagnosed with critical illnesses. Kevin, a 20-year-old from Ramsey, was diagnosed with lymphoma several years ago. It was his wish to build a gaming computer. Children can be referred for a wish between the ages of 2.5 and 18. But because of several factors, including the COVID pandemic, Kevin’s wish had been in the pipeline for a while before it could be fulfilled.
Surrounded by boxes and bags from Micro Center, Kevin excitedly rolled up his sleeves to work side-by-side with the students. “I’m going to open like three different tabs of games,” he said when asked what he is looking forward to with the computer.
“For some of us, this is a hobby too,” said Matthew Zimmerman, a Cloud Engineering Technology student. “It is kind of fun, doing something a little different than what we do in class. Most of us have built quite a few computers — but certainly not like this.”
*Make A Wish Minnesota does not release names of recipients.