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Basketball Star Scores On and Off Court

by Richard Darsie

On March 21, the UC Davis community -- indeed, all of Davis -- watched and cheered as the Aggie basketball team capped its Cinderella season by winning the NCAA Division II National Championship. One of the architects of this stunning victory was 6'4'' center Justis Durkee, whose rebounding skills were a key contribution to several of the playoff wins. "The championship was a dream come true," says Durkee. "It was surprising, especially since we had no previous tournament experience. We just went to Kentucky and played our normal game." But Durkee contributes to the UC Davis campus in other ways -- in his less public role as a site attendant in the Olson Hall computer labs.

Durkee came to UC Davis as a freshman with little experience with, or interest in, computing, but quickly became very attracted to it. His first real exposure came through I.T. Express, where he went to get an operating system upgrade. Following this, he jumped right in, taking an introductory programming class from the Computer Science Department (and several others since then). What attracted him to computing? "I was amazed at how much and how fast computers have evolved, and at how the most complex tasks and graphics come down to just ones and zeros in the computer," says Durkee. His interest has grown to the point where he has considered getting a minor in Computer Science. And, last fall, it led him to IT's Lab Management, where he went through a competitive hiring process to become a site attendant.

Justis Durkee

Helping Fellow Students

Much of the campus community may be unaware of the role or even the existence of computer lab site attendants. But the many students who use the labs know them as a knowledgeable group of peers who answer questions, troubleshoot problems, and generally make the computing experience easier.

Durkee found this responsibility a little challenging initially. "When you first start working [as a site attendant], you're kind of nervous that you're not going to know the answer to a question. But as you gain experience and confidence, with time you get used to answering questions."

Although each lab normally has only one attendant on duty (there may be two during peak hours), all the labs are linked by email and phone. When they encounter a difficult question, attendants can quickly contact all the other attendants on duty, one of whom is bound to have a solution.

To fulfill their responsibilities, site attendants need a diverse set of skills: familiarity with both the Macintosh and Windows 95 platforms, a knowledge of the UC Davis networking environment, and perhaps most important, the ability to communicate what they know.

Communication is Key

Durkee feels that his communication skills extend even to his role as a center for the Aggies. "Communication is key in being a site attendant, and also on the basketball court. Learning to communicate in the site attendant environment enhances my overall communication skills," says Durkee.

Teamwork and communication go hand in hand, both in the computer lab and on the basketball court, as Durkee has discovered. The Lab Management staff work as a team to ensure smooth operation of the computer labs, just as the five teammates on the court work together to score points. In addition to serving as an information resource for each other, the site attendants help each other in more basic ways, such as by covering for each other when one can't make a shift. Durkee's co-workers have always been willing to help out in any way they could. And they have supported his basketball career with encouragement and congratulations. "If you go to 15 Olson, you will see a collection of articles the other site attendants have posted about Justis and the basketball team. When Justis had to trade some hours away due to his basketball schedule, the other students picked up those hours," says Peter Blando, Computer Lab Manager. "I often refer to them as Justis' other team."