By: Edir Coronado
Thirteen-year-old Kristian Borysiak is a mouse potato and enjoys every moment of it. Ever since the 5th grade Kristian has been enamored by the inner workings of the computer, which is why at the beginning of this summer, Kristian professed to his father, Leszek Borysiak, his ambitions to open up a new business, selling computers. Leszek encouraged his eager son to pursue his dream, but proposed a different way of providing computer hardware to the public. Kristian loves computers as a whole, but what he really enjoys is building computers from scratch. The business that Kristian wanted to start, with longtime friend Junaid Ilyas, was constructing computers for his clients, solely based on the client’s specific requests. Leszek advised his son to build a computer, but instead of selling the computer he could donate it to an organization in need.
Kristian’s bond to his grandparents set the course for the organization in need. He often spends his time Skyping his grandparents, and the idea clicked; although there are plenty of organizations that might need the computer, he knows how devastating it would be if his communications with his grandparents were limited. Kristian decided that he would donate the computer to the Chelsea Senior Center. Before any assembling could proceed, Kristian first needed to secure finances to purchase the parts, he started a GoFundMe page, where he explained the scenario. The site was a success; family, friends, and strangers, all contributed. These funds, plus the extra cash he earned from completing chores around the house, allowed Kristian to obtain all the parts needed.
The next hurdle was gathering information on how to build the machine. For this Kristian researched different YouTube videos on the matter and other reading materials. The whole process took Kristian about two months to complete and on August 30th, in a room full of seniors, Kristian along with his family and friend Juanaid by his side, uncloaked the new PC to the crowd. An incredible amount of questions followed; inquiries like; what is Skype and Google? were frequently asked. Kristian quickly realized it wasn’t enough to simply donate the computer to the seniors, he needed to properly teach them how the computer worked. For thirty minutes Kristian stood by the newly built computer and went through all the different programs, patiently responding to all questions asked. He then offered; upon scheduled request, to come to the senior center on his free time and teach the seniors how to use the PC.
This was the first step in Kristian’s goal towards a business in computers and his parents, Leszek and Mariola Borysiak, were hands-off during the whole evolution. Kristian relied on YouTube tutorials and manuals in order to build the tower, his future business partner Juanaid donated the monitor. Kristian will be heading to high school in a year, where he plans on expanding his knowledge through participating in different clubs, such as the Robotics Club.
(above) Selzek Borysiak , Mariola Borysiak, Karina Borysiak, Kristian Borysiak , Junaid Ilyas with some seniors.
