Chromebook Cambry Manages Chromebeast Crisis

By Julie Allison

Since the pandemic, all of our lives have shifted, although, for most of us at least, our workloads have remained the same. Cambry Shields, unfortunately, is not part of that majority and, as a result, has been taking on a lot more work than usual. She went from fixing many kids’ Chromebooks to nearly the entire school’s all at once. This is because kids are discovering that their Chromebook cameras don’t work, or a myriad of other problems that went unnoticed until those problems began disrupting online school. 

She explains “I probably talk to on average by email and by phone probably 250 kids a day” which, if not dealt with immediately, could quickly become overwhelming, especially because she’s the only one that can fix these issues.

For these reasons, she feels like “...the only nurse in Tulsa County that can perform COVID tests, read the results, report the results to the State and answer all questions”, which, in my opinion, is completely justified.

To further put her situation into perspective, she happily showed me a table stacked with broken Chromebooks. Seeing the amount there was I had assumed that that was all, but no. She proceeds to open a cabinet stuffed with broken Chromebooks. Honestly, after seeing the amount of work that needed to be done, I was feeling anxious for her. With that said, we should all appreciate what she’s done for us in these past few years, especially the last few weeks, and help make her job a little easier. 

One way we could help would be to not “tell [our] parents [we] have a problem unless [we] truly have a problem” with our Chromebooks because oftentimes the issues are not as serious as we think they are. 

Another more obvious way we could help would be to not intentionally destroy our Chromebooks. Surprisingly, violence against Chromebooks is a big issue within our school and, while it may seem funny at the time, is always a hindrance.

“One time this one kid… brought his in and it had a broken screen and I was like ‘What happened here bud?’ and he was like ‘Oh, my dog stepped on it’ and I was like ‘Really, ‘cus let me see your fist’ and it was like the perfect imprint of his fist” she recounted while smiling.

All in all, she loves her job and is such a ray of sunshine even while handling this massive workload. So, if we could all help her out by taking care of our Chromebooks, she would definitely appreciate it.