Teaching Technology Through the Internet Revolution: Celebrating a Remarkable Career
After nearly 35 years and teaching and supporting thousands of career seekers, Novella Leslie, a beloved CWEE educator, is retiring at the end of this month.
“When I look back over the last three decades, I must have been having a total blast because the time flew by. I don’t know that I could have found a more fulfilling occupation,” Novella says.
“I have watched my students get great jobs, watched them go to college, watched them become highly successful, watched them have a profound impact on how their own children view education. One thing I know with complete certainty after three decades at CWEE is that no matter what your circumstances are, you can overcome them.”
‘Where are the computers?’
When Novella first came to CWEE in the early 90s, she walked into the office, observed the old IBM word processer and an electric typewriter and wondered ‘Where are the computers?’ Fast forward to when CWEE got its first shipment of computers, still in boxes and on a wooden pallet – 32 machines complete with bulky monitors, keyboards and processing units that Novella called boat anchors thanks to their hefty weight. Novella led the project one Saturday to unpack the boxes and set up each unit in CWEE’s brand new computer lab.
She got the hardware all set up, but Novella realized she needed help networking the computers. CWEE contracted IT support, and within a couple of weeks, the lab was full of DOS-based IBM PC-XT Model 286 computers (similar to the one pictured) configured to run on the CWEE network. Novella still remembers when her class played the first simultaneous computer game together, with multiple devices communicating on the same LAN, or local area network.
“It was hilarious how excited I was,” she remembers.
Keeping up with the evolution of tech
When Novella started her career with CWEE, she had no idea what a LAN was, how to write DOS commands, or that she would witness every aspect of how we work, live and play upended by the internet.
With unwavering adaptability, Novella seamlessly guided her students through the evolution of computer technology, starting with teaching word processing on the DOS-based DisplayWrite4 system and transitioning to the user-friendly graphical interface of Windows, which introduced programs like MS Word. Novella’s career journey mirrors the shift from old desktop software to today’s app-based computing world.
In other words, Novella’s tech savvy is off the charts, a level of comfort and knowledge with technology uncommon for a 76-year-old. In fact, one of nine siblings, Novella serves as the go-to IT support person for her family.
“Necessity is the mother of innovation, and I had to learn stuff that I never intended to learn.”
‘Because You Love Us’
Meeting with Novella at her desk in the CWEE computer lab a week before her retirement, a career seeker enters, someone who Novella worked with more than a decade ago.
“Bernadette, is that you?” Novella calls out cheerfully.
“Yep, it’s me,” the woman smiles. “I knew you would still be here.”
Novella laughs. “Girl, I am 76 years old, I should have retired 10 years ago. How did you know I would still be here?”
“Because you love us.”
In those simple words, ‘Because you love us,’ Novella’s legacy is etched – a testament to the profound impact of her steadfast love and unwavering belief in the potential of every individual.
“I am not as emotional as I thought I would be,” Novella says about her last day at CWEE. “I think it’s because I’ve done what I needed to do in my career, and I feel good about it.”