Bill Cheney does more than work at the Help Desk
Bill Cheney lounges at his desk in a pair of his signature kicks.
Students typically see Mr. Bill Cheney––more commonly known as just “Bill”––when they have an issue with their laptops, but he’s more than just the Help Desk Guy.
Besides running the daily tasks of the Help Desk and managing a couple of employees, Cheney also teaches a computer programming class called Coding and Agile Development. This class introduces project development while using various coding languages. Students in this class work to build various software and hardware. “We are also doing programming for iPhones and iPads,” Cheney said.
Cheney keeps a very busy schedule throughout the whole year with different coaching activities. Doing stats for baseball, basketball, and football have become fun hobbies for Cheney, as well as coaching freshmen basketball. Aside from coaching and doing statistics, he also runs the Boys’ Basketball Twitter account as well as helping run the E-Sports club. “As far as computers go, summer is my busy time… my tech job during the year is reactionary,” Cheney said.
Coming out of college, Cheney was an aspiring rock star. He got his audio engineering degree from the Institute of Production and Recording in Minneapolis and took classes at the University of Minnesota. “I was determined to be a rock star… music was what I was really passionate about,” said Cheney, with his long rock star hair played guitar for a band whose name is––according to Cheney––undisclosed information.
While his music career became a reality, Cheney picked up a job at the Apple Store in Uptown. From here, his technology career began. Growing up, Cheney did not have a teacher role model who he could just talk to. Cheney is at BSM to be that role model. He has fallen in love with the BSM community in the process. “For me, I love seeing kids work hard or succeed whether it’s getting into a great college or winning a big game,” Cheney said.
Beyond being a tech wizard and role model, Cheney is also known among students as a shoe connoisseur. His favorite is the original Jordan 1 Bred, and he owns over seventy different colors of this style of shoe. Cheney keeps all his shoes at several different locations to keep them safe and secure. Some are often displayed in his fancy glass case in the help desk. “I own, with quick counting, a hundred,” Cheney said.
