MARYSVILLE – Teacher Paul LaGrange and his Computer Repair Lab students are continuing to make the world a little bit smaller.

The class has been repairing donated computers for seven years now and has sent almost 900 computers to various nonprofit organizations around the globe.

This year, the class is sending 110 computers to Axim, Ghana in West Africa. In partnership with Ghana Together, the repaired computers from Marysville Mountain View Arts and Technology High School will be used in a new library and several school computer labs.

Maryanne Ward of Ghana Together said One Laptop Per Child computers repaired a few years ago by the same class are still being used daily in the Axim Public Library.

“What a wonderful program,” she said.

The school’s efforts started as a short-term summer project, in 2011, to repair 12 One Laptop Per Child laptops. It has become a Career and Technical Education computer repair lab with service and global outreach focuses. Its most-recent donation of surplussed computers came from a local healthcare provider. Previous repaired computers now are being used in Liberia, Guatemala, a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan and orphanages in Haiti. Locally, students have provided computers to Housing Hope, Disabled American Veterans and several schools and preschools. Beyond that, students have done thousands of free repairs for community members, provided technology training to senior citizens and have sold refurbished computers to purchase tools and hardware to fix more computers.

The lab is always looking for donated computers. For more on that call LaGrange at 360-965-3036 or email paul_lagrange@msvl.k12.wa.us