A quick recap of everything the executive team accomplished for the 2018-2019 year of Computer Comfort, including its complete rebranding into Device Advice.

( If you’re wondering what Computer Comfort is, check out this post from last year )

What got done this year

  • Renamed our club to “Device Advice”, updated our mission, and received new branding materials to advertise starting new university chapters!
  • Spent 102 hours helping seniors during the fall semester, and 124 during the spring, for a combined 226 hours of volunteering!
    • (That’s over 12,240 renditions of singing the Hawkeye fight song, or sitting through 243 lectures of coursework)
  • Provided free transportation for all sessions to make volunteering more accessible.
  • Doubled the number of sessions hosted at the Senior Center
  • Began a monthly email newsletter to help keep volunteers, partners, and seniors up to date on our progress.
  • Added two new student executive members.
  • Began a partnership with the Aging and Longevity Studies Program to reach new undergraduate members and areas of the community.
  • Presented at both the Fall and Spring org fairs for the first time.
  • Grew our active member count from forty trained volunteers, to over one hundred.
  • Separated from being registered as a Tippie College of Business organization, in favor of a campus-wide org status.

Updated Mission Statement

While rebranding we decided to revisit our mission statement:

“Device Advice strives to shrink the digital divide between generations by educating older adults on today’s technology while creating meaningful connections in the process.”

We wanted it to reflect the half and half balance of 1.) creating meaningful relationships and 2.) assisting with technology to keep older adults connected with their families.

In addition to including our updated name, we’re now doing our best to use the term “older adults”, as we’ve learned most prefer it over “seniors”.

New Executive Board For 2019-20

I’ll be leaving the executive board after three years to work on personal projects like these and begin my job search. Although I won’t be able to have a direct impact on the leadership of the club, I’ll still be volunteering regularly throughout the year.

  • President: Deb Destahun
  • Organization Ambassador: Jade Peterson
  • Internal Logistics: Matt Campbell
  • Secretary and Finance: Josh Magri
  • External Relations + Campus Outreach: Evan Jacobs and Evita Woolsey
  • Marketing + Social Media: ?

As you may notice, we’re still looking for a student to join us in marketing the organization for next semester! This is a great opportunity, as now that we’ve finished rebranding, there’s a ton of potential for creating new materials and exploring paths for advertising.

Please reach out at studorg-DeviceAdvice@uiowa.edu, if you’re interested we’d love to hear from you!

The future of Device Advice

  • Growing our executive board so that we have bandwidth to expand to other universities.
  • Using our new marketing tools to ensure that volunteers always have seniors to help at sessions.
  • Working with the existing technology support department at Oaknoll to provide more direct and regular help.

What I learned

In learning about my own leadership tendencies while holding the president position, I noticed a nasty habit of taking on more than I needed too, even though I had a team of fully willing and capable students around me. That and finding creative ways to help keep very busy people actively involved in a common mission has been valuable in all areas of life so I’m grateful for the experience.

How to get involved with us!

If you’re a student who wants to attend a session, or a company interested in supporting the organization, please contact us!
Email: (studorg-DeviceAdvice@uiowa.edu)