Today, almost every computer comes with a webcam and one of the biggest uses for it is Skype. Skype is a video chatting service, which originated in Sweden, allows people to chat face to face via computer. Skype has allowed soldiers to talk to families overseas, let a bed-ridden mother watch her daughter get married, and allows grandparents to read bedtime stories to their grandchildren, but what does it do for Buffalo High School?
In an online survey of twenty four students, the most popular uses ranged from talking to friends outside of school to using it in yearbook classes and The Hoofprint. The most common response was using Skype to talk to people that students weren’t able to see or otherwise communicate with on a daily basis, such as friends in other schools and siblings in college, but for Junior Devon Bainey it’s much more than just talking to his brother.
“My brother is in college and he and I are really close so I use Skype everyday. It’s great because it lets you be able to see the person and their reactions and then you can react to them. It’s an easier way to carry on a conversation than by phone or texting,” Bainey said.
Another common response was to talk to family, which 21 percent of respondents said they did, but for Senior Niels Olsén, who is currently an exchange student here from Sweden it’s a bit more than talking to someone you may see once a month.
“It makes me feel like its okay to be here, it doesn’t matter how far away from home I am. They will always be there. That’s why if someone asks if I miss my family, I simply say no because I know they will simply be there no matter where I am,” said Olsén.
Another use of this growing technology is trickling into the classrooms at BHS. In many schools technology is not embraced, but when surveyed exactly 50 percent of students said that Skype should be used in school without conditions and 50 percent said it should be, but depending on the class. No respondent thought that it shouldn’t be in a learning environment. In BHS though, specifically Ryan McCallum’s classrooms, Skype is used to better the skills of the students in journalism and writing.
“I use it during Hoofprint work nights. We, as a staff, call upon a professional journalist who is willing to talk us and ask what they went through to get where they are for advice,” said Senior Jonah Menough.
The yearbook staff also uses Skype and it has proven to be a valuable learning tool.
“I don’t personally use Skype, but in Yearbook we Skyped with a famous photographer and Kyle Mooney from YouTube, and some other people related to the writing world. I think it’s great because we can connect with people and ask questions and learn more about certain topics,” said Junior Jordan Skarin.
While the inventors of Skype probably had big dreams of having people talk face to face across the planet, Buffalo High School students have done that and much more. Skype is a truly powerful tool in the world, it has even joined the “verb club” along with Google and Facebook, being used as a verb as much as a noun, and Buffalo High School is embracing this new style of communication.
