SFWE Students in SHPE Share Tech Expertise with Community
Members of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers teach community members how to use technology effectively.
Members of SHPE at the 2023 La Familia tech education event.
Students like Irbis Martinez often step into the role of tech support as their family members and elders adapt to new cellphones and internet apps or adopt life-critical, cloud-based technology, such as medical video conferencing that became the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Even now, my grandparents use Zoom for their doctors’ appointments 50% of the time,” said Martinez, an environmental engineering senior and president of the University Arizona’s Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, or SHPE.
But Martinez can’t always answer the calls. That’s where La Familia, now in its 22nd year, comes in. SHPE organizes La Familia, a free annual event, to teach community members, especially seniors, how to use technology confidently and independently.
From operating Zoom for telehealth calls to setting up WhatsApp on smartphones, SHPE students running La Familia’s Navigating Apps workshop walked attendees through every step of the internet applications they most wanted to use.
“By tailoring the presentation to what participants want to do, they will be more engaged,” said SHPE member and software engineering junior Jennifer Galvan, explaining that the interactive presentation changes every year depending on the interests of participants.
Learn more about SHPE's annual La Familia event here.