When you come into school, your iPad connects to the internet before you even sit down. Your assignments print on the first try. Schoology loads instantly. But if any of that fails tomorrow, chaos would follow, and there are two people who make sure it doesn’t.

IT Director John Wu, who’s been at Riordan since 2011, and IT Manager Trejon Bolden ’12, a Riordan alumnus who returned in 2017, handle everything from network crashes to printer jams to teachers who can’t figure out why their classroom TV won’t connect. Together, they support around 1,300 students, faculty, and staff.

“Being a Riordan alumnus, it feels good to give back,” said Bolden, who worked his way up from IT Support Specialist to manager.

Their job means being on call around the clock. “Because we have a dorm on campus, we’re essentially monitoring the network 24/7,” Wu explained.

When water leaked into a network closet, Wu got the call at midnight and worked until 4 a.m. replacing equipment.

Each morning, they check what broke overnight, then divide the day’s work.

They even fix the school’s copy machines. “Even something as simple as using the wrong paper color or not selecting the correct paper setting can trigger jams,” Wu said.

English and Social Science teacher Beth Fergus said, “When the copiers get jammed, and we struggle and struggle, John will walk in and magic happens.”

“He’s like a Jedi,” added English teacher Meghan Williams.

Students take this technology for granted, but it represents a massive transformation since Wu arrived. In 2011, Riordan had no Wi Fi and just two computer labs. Today, every student has an iPad or laptop, and classrooms have smart displays.

“By 2014, we rolled out Wi-Fiand a one-to-one iPad program. In 2020, we revamped the network to support the shift to co-ed,” Wu said.

For students, this work happens mostly behind the scenes. Matteo Hrvatin ’27 remembers when he couldn’t access documents on Schoology.

“Technology has made my experience better because it allows me to access several things at once,” Hrvatin said.

What do students not see? Wu and Bolden work evenings and weekends to keep those systems running.

The hardest part isn’t handling emergencies—it’s finding time for the big projects that keep Riordan ahead of the curve. Wu and Bolden get just two to three weeks during holiday breaks to implement major upgrades. The rest of the year, they’re in maintenance mode, putting out fires and planning for the next break.

English Department Chair Richard Sylvester ’01 said, “I’m always surprised by how quickly they respond.”

“No two days are the same,” Wu said. One minute he’s troubleshooting the network, the next he’s helping a teacher connect their laptop.

“When everything’s running smoothly, our work is invisible— which is exactly how it should be,” Wu said.

He added, “But that takes constant monitoring, updates, security patches, and planning behind the scenes.”

Looking ahead, Wu gets excited about AI and adaptive-learning platforms that could personalize instruction for each student. But most days, he focuses on the basics: keeping the internet fast, the printers working, and the network secure.

Wu and Bolden work nights, weekends, and holidays so students never have to think  about whether technology will work. It just does.