Flaviu Simihaian hopes the new Rotary-funded computer lab in his former middle school in Romania will provide a lot more than just educational enrichment for its 640 students.

He also hopes it’ll give them a sense of pride that too many Romanians lack. “They now have one of the most modern facilities in the world,” he said after the recent installation of 20 networked iMac i5 computers at the Scoala Generala Mihai Eminescu in Nasaud, Romania.

Ten years ago Simihaian graduated from that school. Then at age 14 he moved to America to compete on the tennis court for Cannon School in Concord and then Davidson College. He earned a degree in software design from UNC Charlotte, and has been employed in that university’s IT department for the past two years.

Simihaian also earned his American citizenship and joined the University City Rotary Club, currently serving as treasurer. He recognized that his ties to Romania could facilitate an international service project that could prepare Romanian students for technology careers. So he secured a partnership with the Bistrita Rotary club near Nasaud, where his father is currently president, and began raising funds last July. In four months he had commitments for $9,500 from clubs in District 7680 and the Bistrita club and, and that grew to $35,000 with matching grants from the district and Rotary International.

The project included purchase from a Romanian vendor of the 20 Apple computers, networking infrastructure with a 24-port gigabit switch, one Apple Mini Server, white board, 40 computer manuals, and two days of training for the school’s entire teaching staff and several influential parents.

Each machine runs both the Macintosh and Windows 7 operating systems. Each is loaded with Office, i-Works, i-Life, an internet browser and Google Earth. Simihaian believes the software will provide opportunities for educational enrichment for students at every grade level.

The school administration erected a plaque on the computer center’s door that credits Rotary and Simihaian for its installation. The administration also committed to letting every student in the school use a computer for at least an hour a week, and to conduct summer sessions in the lab, allow full access to all teachers, provide after-hours access to students in a computer club, and incorporate the Mac OS platform into the teaching curriculum. Simihaian also left the facility in good hands, with a technically savvy school administrator and the equipment vendor assigned to maintenance.

Simihaian traveled to Romania for a week in early June to oversee the installation. He wrote about the project beforehand on Romanian web sites, and several Apple computer fans in the country volunteered to help. “Apple hasn’t got a very big presence in Romania, so the prospect of the modern facility and latest equipment raised a lot of excitement,” Simihaian said.

After setting up the computers and network, a grand opening was held on June 10. It was a high profile event, attracting city hall representatives, the clergy, the school principal and other school administrators. Nearly a dozen media outlets covered the event, recognizing a good story in the hometown Romanian boy’s return from America to help children in his former middle school.

He’s hoping the new lab will inspire Romanians to their own acts of philanthropy, and give them a new sense of pride in their country. He confessed, “Romanians have an inferiority complex. Many of them believe things are only good if they come from America or Western Europe. They believe things from Romania are inherently inferior. The installation of this totally modern lab by Rotary will hopefully help show it doesn’t have to be that way.”