Since 1925, St. Cecilia School in Philadelphia, PA has committed to the mission of grounding students in the Catholic faith while providing a rich academic experience. Thousands of children have graduated from the school well prepared for higher learning and have become outstanding leaders in the church and community. Sound faith formation and academic excellence have always been the hallmarks of St. Cecilia’s school community. Following the COVID pandemic, St. Cecilia’s recognized a need to upgrade their IT infrastructure across campus to provide the best educational experience for its students. St. Cecilia’s current Vice Principal, Sister Carolyn Elizabeth Braun, IHM, identified this need for a complete transformation and took initiative in pursuing several IT-oriented grants. Once approved, Sister worked with CompuData, a Philadelphia-based Managed Service Provider, to help future-proof their IT infrastructure.
Addressing the Need for Upgraded Infrastructure
With an acumen for technology from her training as an engineer, Sister recognized the need for St. Cecilia’s transition into a new age of technology. Sister was dedicated to creating an environment that supports her student’s educational growth, and refreshing their aging infrastructure was the first step. St. Cecilia’s entire library system was running on antiquated 20+ year-old hardware and software. This type of situation was commonplace across campus as the infrastructure was well past its useful life.
Sister partnered with CompuData during this process receiving guidance on where to begin, identifying improvement areas in their environment, and how to efficiently organize and prioritize IT projects and budget. After helping Sister define the goal, St. Cecilia’s started on the journey to a modern and scalable environment with consistent connectivity across campus.
The Road to Success
Sister’s persistence and unyielding faith, coupled with CompuData’s technical direction and support, St. Cecilia’s has successfully updated their entire IT infrastructure. Students now can learn on updated computers, teachers on new laptops and smartboards, and the entire campus enjoys an improved wired and wireless network experience. The new systems operate quickly and efficiently, creating a better learning environment for all.
Major improvements include:
- Migration from an on-premises to cloud-based library management system
- Upgrade aging desktops and monitors to new, high-powered PCs with high-definition 27-inch monitors for the computer and media labs.
- Computer-aided Design (CAD) programming, 3D printing, graphic design, and robotics software are now available as part of student’s IT curriculum
- Replacement of aging SMART Boards with new all-in-one 86” SMART Board screens in each classroom.
- Teachers received new laptops for use with new educational technologies.
- Implementation of server backup solutions, providing reliability, business continuity and disaster recovery.
“The changes we have made in the past year have drastically improved the learning atmosphere for both students and staff. Our students now have access to amazing technology that will enhance their educational experience and foster overall growth. We could not have done this without the support and guidance from the CompuData team.” – Sister Carolyn Braun, Vice Principal at St. Cecilia’s.
With Sister working in tandem with CompuData’s account management, project, and support teams, we were able to guide St. Cecilias to where they are today – operating in a refreshed, reliable, and scalable IT environment. Heading into 2023, CompuData and St. Cecilia’s relationship continues to flourish, as we are actively assisting Sister in accomplishing her current and future goals with our consultative guidance and hands-on technical support.
CompuData provides best-in-class IT solutions to help organizations succeed, with a wide range of services from Accounting/ERP software solutions, Cloud Hosting & Managed Cloud Services, Managed IT Services, and Security solutions. The CompuData team can help create a plan for your organization that prioritizes your needs, where we complete an assessment of your current IT stack and implement the services that meet your requirements and budget.
