Matt Kuehne is a typical teenager at Ironton High School.

Monday, March 06, 2000

Matt Kuehne is a typical teenager at Ironton High School.

He enjoys spending time with his friends, and he has fun being a member of the male chorus during the annual musical.

That’s where the typical part of his life ends and the extraordinary begins.

The junior at Ironton High School literally leads a double life, one that is consumed with computers.

"I started out doing web-mastering in high school under Mark Near," Kuehne explained. "Then, I worked during the summer of 1999 doing computer repairs."

When Near retired, Kuehne became the lead computer technician at Ironton Junior High School, maintaining about 130 work stations as well as the wiring, hubs and installation associated with ongoing renovation work at the school.

"His work is superb," said principal Jerry Watson. "Matt did all the wiring in the remodeled classrooms and set up all the new computers in those classrooms. In addition, he programmed the teachers’ computers so their individual files would follow them as they move from classroom to classroom."

Kuehne is experienced – and certified – on both PCs and Macintosh equipment, which Watson said is critical in this age of integrated operating systems.

Computers in and of themselves are useless unless they are networked properly and programmed to meet local needs, Watson added.

"Matt is the person who pulled it all together for us at the junior high," he said, also giving the teenager credit for helping keep the school at the forefront of technology.

The son of Paul and Lisa Kuehne began his interest in computers at a young age.

"We had an outdated computer at home, and I conned Mom and Dad into letting me put it in my room. I remember how my Dad used to yell at me when he saw me taking the screws out of the computer case," he recalled with a smile, adding that his parents now come to him and ask him to perform repairs and programming. "I started trying to program it and was hooked."

Soon, Kuehne wanted a faster, updated computer, so he rolled up his sleeves and worked on cars to earn enough money to buy a state-of-the-art system.

"Then, I started learning to create web pages for myself, which is how I met Mark (Near)," he said.

His favorite computer activity is designing networks that tie computers and people together, he said.

"It is a challenge being able to have a huge number of users and being able to figure out ways for them to communicate," Kuehne said.

Today, he is participating in the two-year Cisco class at Dawson-Bryant High School in addition to his classwork at Ironton High School. Eventually, he hopes to attend college and become a network engineer. In that job, Kuehne would oversee hardware (the computer itself) and software (programs that allow users to perform required tasks) as an integrated system for a variety of users.

His most recent challenge is the development of "voice print" access with the computer systems at Ironton Junior High School.

"So far, I have been able to program the server to recognize my voice," he said, adding he hopes to expand that option to teachers and students in the near future.

This coming summer, Kuehne plans to gain additional certification for hardware repair and has his sights set on earning more training in Microsoft and Apple Network systems.

"Working at the junior high has been great because I am always learning new things," he said. "I also am enjoying working with the students there, and I have been teaching them how cable and network their system."

Kuehne is linked to the junior high and other users through a cellular phone that he carries with him constantly. Periodically, the phone rings – even during classes – from frantic users whose computer systems need his immediate attention.

"It is a little weird when I am in class and a teacher asks me to fix things," he said. "I don’t mind, but I don’t really like all the attention. My preference is to work evenings when nobody is around."