FORT MYERS, Fla. — It all started when Aaron Smolyar mentioned to his friends that he often helps his grandparents navigate their electronic devices. It turned out he was far from the only one.
“It’s a pretty much universal problem that no one is willing to step in and address,” Aaron said.
Then Aaron came up with an idea and his CLEO (Computer Literacy Education Outreach) Club was born.
Once a week, Aaron along with other students from the Canterbury School in Fort Myers make a trip to the Brookdale senior living community next door. There, the teens spend one-on-one time with residents and help them with their phone, tablet and computer issues.
“We really appreciate them,” Irene Zimmerman, who has used the service three times, said.
The program has caught on and is now being explored in other parts of the country. Soon there will be chapters at Fort Myers High School, Mariner High School, as well as schools in North Carolina and Kentucky.
But the best part is usually what happens after the tech problems are solved.
“It’s great for us to just be able to learn from [the people we help],” Christian Lequis, one of the CLEO club’s co-founders, said. “That’s honestly what really adds value to this club.”
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