Oasis High students provide tech support to local retirees

By Diana Nicol

One of the most valuable things in life is time. Each second, minute and hour count toward something, big or small. In Southwest Florida, volunteerism is embedded in our community. With over 600 nonprofits in Lee County alone, it’s clear that Southwest Florida has a heart for giving. That generosity, care and patience spans across generations, from adults spending their weekends off work cleaning up our beautiful beaches, to high school students helping out at local food banks after school wraps up for the year.

For students at Oasis High School in Cape Coral, they’ve chosen to venture over to a local senior living community, Gulf Coast Village, after the final bell rings. Why? To offer support on a subject most Gen Zers consider themselves experts at: technology.

Computer Literacy Education Outreach, or CLEO, is a student-run organization at Oasis High. The program initially started in 2022 at Canterbury School in Fort Myers, but it quickly took the community – and nation – by storm. Since its inception, CLEO has expanded to more than 50 schools in 20 states and has served over 3,000 older adults. Its mission is to “empower seniors with the knowledge and confidence to navigate the digital world, helping them stay connected with loved ones and maintain independence.”

Gulf Coast Village, the only life plan community in Cape Coral, has been working with CLEO students since the summer of 2023, when they welcomed students from Cape Coral High School into the community. When the 2024-25 academic year began, the community began partnering with the Oasis High School division of CLEO.

Shya Ruiz, a 2025 graduate of Oasis High, joined the program with a friend in 2023 during its first year at her school. After her first year, she loved it so much that she was elected to the role of president in 2024.

“I just like the feeling of helping other people when they’re needing help,” said Ruiz. “The smiles that you get when they finally understand or their problem gets solved...it’s rewarding.”

As president, one of her primary responsibilities was scheduling the sessions at Gulf Coast Village. It’s an organized system: once a month, a group of five to six student volunteers visits Gulf Coast Village to assist residents. If they’re in need of help, residents can register for a 15-minute time slot. When their time comes, they are matched up with a student to receive specialized one-on-one support for whatever technology issues they’re having. And the possibilities are endless. Whether it’s needing help getting their printer connected to their cell phone or trying to figure out how to change their profile picture on Instagram, the students are able to help with whatever the residents need.

The troubleshooting is diverse. One resident, Bill, had a few finnicky issues with his Samsung cell phone. He needed some help setting up his facial recognition and managing notifications, but his main issue was that when he received a text message, he was unable to find it. After a few minutes with Oasis’ students, Bill figured out how to access his texts. Now, he’ll never miss a text from his loving wife, Marguerite.

Some residents, like Jayne Jennings, face some challenges with social media, as it continues to be an ever-popular way for retirees to stay connected to their loved ones. Luckily, Zers are social media afficionados. Ava Plainte, a CLEO student, showed Jennings the ropes, and she left the session with a new profile picture and a newfound knowledge of how to “favorite” photos in her iPhone camera roll.

Some issues are a bit trickier, like connecting a printer to a cell phone or clearing out the junk storage of an iPad, while some are simpler, like showing residents how to set a morning alarm or mute an Instagram story they didn’t want to see. With each presented issue, the students and residents work together for a solution. Most importantly, the students are compassionate, patient and attentive. They walk the residents seeking help through the process step-by-step so that when the session is over, they’re able to navigate the solution on their own.

Opportunities for generations of both older and younger to connect are special. Intergenerational relationships present several benefits, like relationship building and avoiding adolescent egocentrism, but they also present the opportunity to learn.

Through CLEO, retirees across the nation have the chance to learn something new every day from the generation that grew up on technology.

About the author

Diana Nicol is the life enrichment coordinator at Gulf Coast Village, Cape Coral’s only life plan community. To learn more, visit GulfCoastVillage.org or call 239-510-8712.