Lucy Myers, technology specialist at the Pleasanton Unified School District offices, said she has always been comfortable with working behind the scenes to help students and staff perform to the best of their abilities.

That's why when she first heard the news that she was selected as the districtwide 2023 Classified Employee of the Year, Myers said she was very surprised and honored to have been nominated in the first place.

"I know there's just a wide group of classified people that work behind the scenes to make sure the staff and students have what they need," Myers told the Weekly. "So when the whole group showed up in my little cubicle, it was very surprising and a little overwhelming ... but I'm just very appreciative and I just feel blessed and honored to be working here and with them."

PUSD will be submitting Myers' name to be considered for the Alameda County Classified School Employee of the Year later this year.

Originally from Southern California, Myers moved to Pleasanton in the early 1990s.

She had worked for an insurance company before she began dabbling with computers -- so when a part-time technology specialist position opened up at Donlon Elementary School in 2007, she decided to take it.

The main motivation was that the schedule gave her more time to spend with her kids, who also attended schools in PUSD.

At the time, Myers said that technology was still very new to everyone -- kids and adults alike -- and that it has been interesting to see the change over the last decade.

"There were no one-on-one devices. (The students) came to the computer lab and that's where they learned about computers and learned how to use computers," Myers said. "Most little kids had no experience at all, so that was their first time really working with a computer. Now it's just blossomed into, they know almost as much as I do."

Then, after 13 years of being at Donlon, Myers transferred to the district offices in 2020 where she currently works on troubleshooting problems around the offices. She said that while she really enjoyed working with elementary school kids and teachers, she also enjoys working with this new set of people.

"I like the variety," Myers said. "I like working with a lot of staff. I like working with a lot of people."

Myers current role at the district level usually involves helping resolve connection issues, installing workstations and in general supporting the staff who work there.

PUSD director of communications Patrick Gannon told the Weekly that Myers is like the 911 of technology problems.

"When something technology related is not working, people call Lucy," Gannon said. "We're increasingly reliant on technology, and it's changing every day -- Lucy helps us adapt to that."

And while Myers said that the influx of new technology that comes out on what sometimes seems to be a daily basis can be overwhelming at times, all she can do is dive in and learn on the go.

"Sometimes you're learning it right along with the staff," Myers said regarding new technology. "So ... I try not to get too overwhelmed because if I'm not calm about something that doesn't help the staff."

She said that apart from keeping up with the world of technology by reading articles on anything new, she also gets a lot of help from the technology department in the district

"We have just a wide range of (people with) knowledge -- some with a lot of knowledge in certain areas -- so we kind of pull from each other," Myers said.

And while she does enjoy the act of supporting district staff so that they can better serve the overall PUSD population, she said some of her most notable experiences she's had while working at PUSD have been running into former Donlon students who recognize her even though she wasn't a teacher.

"It just makes me feel good to have lived and worked in this community and still run into those students ​​and they ... just thank me for having fun in the computer lab," Myers said. "I just feel very honored and appreciative to have been given this award. I'm really one that works behind the scenes so it is quite flattering."