Early Accomplishments
The Blocksburg-Alderpoint community welcomed the early HITS trips in part because one of the HITS founders, Kristin Windbigler, is also a native (the other HITS founders are Jill Atkinson, Jim Frew, Luke Knowland, Matt Margolin, Matt Stevens, and David Thau). A large part of any early accomplishments by HITS was also due to the work of Marc Wilson of Casterlin Elementary School, April Wilson of the Healthy Start Center, and Melanie Chausse of the Osprey Learning Center. These local educators shepherded many HITS projects and saw an opportunity to educate themselves and their students about technology.

The first HITS teaching sessions were held at Casterlin Elementary School in Blocksburg. The Web professionals would teach the students during class on Friday, and the sessions were opened up to the community at large on Saturdays. These classes were extended first to the Alderpoint's Healthy Start Community Center and then to the Osprey Learning Center.

HITS Evolves
As Melanie Chausse became more heavily involved in HITS, a natural progression became clear that would move the decision-making abilities of HITS to Humboldt. The HITS Founders understood that if their project were to have a lasting impact, it should change hands at some point from the San Francisco contingent to the local educators. Currently, Chausse and Stacy Windbigler permanently staff HITS, which has evolved into a non-profit Web design institute integrated into the Southern Humboldt Unified School District.

The goal of HITS is four-fold:

• To offer students from rural schools the skills necessary to compete in a global work force
• To have students learn by teaching others
• To offer free Web production services to schools and local nonprofits
• To assist the local economy by offering these services to small businesses.