03 / COMMUNITY & HARDWARE

Technology, put to use.

Cisco Antigua · Computers for the World

2023 DONATION TRIP · VOLUNTEER · UNPAID

In 2023, I joined the Rotary school technology donation initiative in Antigua and Barbuda, combining hands-on Cisco networking with volunteer team leadership. The goal was practical: help donated equipment become working connections that students and teachers could use.

My contribution

Configured and deployed more than 50 Cisco routers and access points.
Led a ten-person team and helped coordinate more than 200 donated routers and projectors.
Worked with project partners and local stakeholders on equipment preparation and deployment logistics.
Applied networking knowledge to configuration, connectivity checks, and troubleshooting in schools.

A partnership built over years.

Beginning in 2008, the Rotary Club of Antigua and Washington State’s Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club brought together local school partners, Rotarians led by John Martinka, and Newport High School’s Cisco networking students and teachers led by Jeff Mason. The initiative supports government and private schools across Antigua and Barbuda. Rotary project history ↗

The wider program has included computer donations, new and upgraded labs, wired and wireless networks, and video conferencing between the islands for teaching and teacher training. Organizer’s field account ↗

BEFORE ANTIGUA / HANDS-ON TRAINING

A year in the Cisco server room.

Before traveling to Antigua in 2023, I spent a year studying the CCNA curriculum in a real server-room environment. Working hands-on with networking equipment helped me develop the configuration, connectivity testing, and troubleshooting skills I later applied to school installations.

Routing & addressing

IPv4 and IPv6 addressing, subnetting, static routing, and dynamic routing with OSPF and EIGRP.

Switching & connectivity

VLANs, trunking, inter-VLAN routing, DHCP, and wired and wireless network fundamentals.

Secure administration

SSH version 2 for remote device access, access control lists (ACLs), NAT/PAT, and network security fundamentals.

Troubleshooting & automation

Cisco IOS configuration and verification, connectivity diagnostics, and an introduction to network automation and management.

Cisco Networking Academy

CCNAv7: Enterprise Networking, Security, and Automation — course completion certificate, issued under my name Tianze Li.

View certificate PDF

PROGRAM-WIDE IMPACT / REPORTED MILESTONES

≈10,000Computers distributed since 2008, reported February 2025

1,500Laptops in the 2025 installation, reported by Antigua Observer

50+Networked computer labs established by February 2017

These figures describe the wider initiative across multiple years. 2025 reporting ↗ · 2017 Rotary account ↗

THE WELCOME

More than a technical trip.

Our 2023 team was personally greeted by the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda over lunch—a highlight of the trip and a chance to connect with our hosts beyond the school installations.

ON LOCAL TELEVISION

Our project reached local TV.

The initiative has been featured by ABS TV / Radio, bringing the school technology work to a wider local audience.

Watch the AB Today interview

From Rotary’s 2017 project account

Published February 20, 2017. The “tenth year” and totals below refer to that historical report.

The Rotary Club of Antigua in partnership with the Belleview Breakfast Rotary Club of Washington State is in its tenth (10) year of conducting the Computer for the World Project which started in 2008.
In this project a team of Rotarians headed by Mr. John Martinka of the Belleview Breakfast Rotary Club along with and a team of Cisco Systems IT Students and Teachers headed by Mr. Jeff Mason from the Newport High School in Belleview, Washington State have been coming to Antigua & Barbuda and have been installing computers in Government and Private Schools as a donation to the Ministry of Education for the Students of Antigua & Barbuda.
To date over the years, some two thousand, four hundred (2,400) computers have been installed and over 50 fully networked computer labs have been set up in the schools in Antigua and in Barbuda.

Read the original Rotary account ↗

PROJECT PARTNERS & PRESS

The initiative, in the news.

Official project partners first, followed by broadcast and newspaper coverage, then a personal account from an organizer. These reports document different years of the wider program.