THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412080176
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK PELLEGRINI, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
When the Virginia Beach Circuit Court needed help tackling a mountain of paperwork, court administrator Matt Benefiel asked around, and found a source of able and eager assistance he hadn't considered before: 10 computer science students from Kellam High School.
Each November, Benefiel said, Circuit Court workers are charged with entering more than 7,200 statutory jury questionnaires into the court's computer system. This year, it was going to be difficult.
``The court is short-staffed as it is,'' Benefiel said, ``and it's a pretty daunting task.''
He posed the problem to Mary Russo, co-chair of the city's Volunteer Council. She called Kellam Principal Albert Williams, and soon computer science teacher Steven Schmitter was offering his classes a special assignment.
``They needed help with data entry,'' Schmitter recalled, ``so I put it out to my kids.'' Ten students volunteered, and all of a sudden, help was on the way.
The students were skilled in keyboard work and database applications.
Benefiel was grateful. ``We didn't have a lot of training time . . . and they were already computer literate. In five minutes they were all up and running.''
Benefiel estimated that by spending consecutive Saturdays and some weekday afternoons perched at the terminals, the volunteers logged more than 120 man-hours and entered some 2,000 questionnaires.
``They all just sat down and pounded the keyboard for six hours,'' he said. ``They did a great job.''
Although the end of each year sees a similar ``time crunch'' for juror data entry all across Virginia, Benefiel and his selfless cohorts seem to be innovators. Circuit Court is ``the first court to do this,'' he said.
Benefiel is hoping to extend the program this year and make it an annual event, and he certainly recommends it to others. ``I think (the students) got something out of it,'' he said. ``I know we did . . . I can't emphasize enough what a help it was.''
The volunteers were taken on a tour of the court building, learned a little about the judicial system, and got free pizza for their efforts. Each will receive a letter of thanks from one of the judges.
Schmitter said he also is tossing in ``a couple of extra points'' on a class quiz. by CNB