It is a simple yet motivating slogan: Get a job and get a computer.

A partnership between LBCC and the Oregon Department of Human Services, the Computer Recycling/Rebuild Work Site (CRWS) located at 550 Main St. in Lebanon provides students with the opportunity to earn a computer and job experience.

Open to people receiving DHS benefits, CRWS students attend work readiness classes through LBCC's Job Opportunity and Basic Skills (JOBS) program in the morning and then spend four hours recycling and rebuilding computers in the afternoon.

CRWS trainees break down damaged and outdated computers collected from the Marion County Environmental Services Department and LBCC into recyclable parts. Later-model Pentium computers are rebuilt.

"We treat it like a business," said Shelly Dermody, work readiness instructor.

Computers, monitors, keyboards, printers and even the occasional blow dryer arrive by the hundreds in shipping containers from Marion County. Students examine every item, identifying the usable from the unusable. Broken and outdated items are sorted and transferred to Garten Services in Salem, which sells the material for scrap to help with its funding. Garten Services helps those with developmental disabilities and long-term mental illness.

Turning salvageable computers into working machines requires several technical savvy steps: internal components - hard drives, memory, power supplies, CPUs and disk drives - are tested and replaced. New operating systems - Windows or Linux - are loaded. Software drivers are updated.

"The students are incredible. They figure all this out," Dermody said.

Working at CRWS gives students transferable skills in quality control, inventory management, policy and procedure creation and communication, Dermody said.

With the large number of serviceable parts that CRWS collects, Dermody said she eventually hopes to have students selling some on eBay.

"That's a whole other area of job skills. A lot of businesses like bookstores are hiring people to do that," she said.

Although not intended to train students specifically for technical jobs, Dermody said she would be thrilled if the experience led some to pursue high-tech careers.

"My dream is they're going to be getting engineering degrees," she said.

After three months in JOBS and working at CRWS, Virginia Morris, 23, of Lebanon, has set her sights on attending Chemteka Community College to become a certified nursing assistant

"I've learned how important it is to be consistent. If you miss a day of training, things don't go smoothly," she said.

Working with a diverse group of people ranging in age from 17 to 50 taught her a lot about the importance of workplace communication, Morris said.

Once enrolled in JOBS, students design a work plan to help them get the skills they need to find a job. When they are ready for the workplace, Barbara Rossi helps place them in volunteer three-month internships with local businesses.

"It really helps them learn those basic work entrance skills and gives them recent work history to put on a resume," Rossi said.

Jessica Gregorich, 23, is doing her internship at the Lebanon Boys & Girls Club as a receptionist.

"I had to get over some barriers. I got (JOBS) counseling to get the skills I needed to get ready."

Gregorich's plans include earning a bachelor's degree for a career in juvenile corrections.

Landing the internship at the Boys & Girls Club earned her a rebuilt computer from CRWS - the first one she has ever owned.

"I was totally stoked," she said. "Before I didn't know a lot of computer stuff. Now I feel I can totally take one apart and know what's wrong with it and fix it."