Written by Jared Field

For the past 33 years, Nick Ward has called Lapeer Community Schools home. Nick, as most of his fellow employees know well, has been the District’s Director of Technology for more than two decades.

He’s the voice on the other end of the line when your desktop monitor displays the blue screen of death; or, for the younger, hipper crowd of Mac users like myself, the spinning wheel of death  — which rarely ever happens, obviously.

In either case, Nick was in charge of the District’s mash unit for Technology. If there’s a hospice for aging technology somewhere, I’d like to think it’s called the Nick Ward — maybe the Nick U. In any case, let’s get to the point: Nick is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet in this business. 

Nick and his team have been keeping the District’s tired fleet of computers, printers, projectors, and every other trapping of modern technology, off life support for years. He is a talented musician, a lover of all things Hawaiian (including his wife, Lani) and a connoisseur of some of the ugliest sweaters ever made. More than that, he is a true gentleman and a strong man of faith.

If you ever heard a stream of nonstop beeping coming from Nick’s office, rest assured it was a keyboard problem and not an angry response to his 15th call of the day regarding Zoom. Nick has been a loyal employee, a great friend and an asset to our team.

To my friend I say: clear your cache and hit Control-Alt-Delete on your life. This is the reset of a lifetime.