Shore man, 25, an answer to tech prayers
Published: March 19, 2007
At the ripe age of 25, John Dalton already is something of an old pro when it comes to bringing high technology to schools and churches.
While a student at St. Rose High School in Belmar, he helped overhaul the school’s dysfunctional computer network, among other contributions, using skills honed in his after-school job at Dialight, a Wall company that makes lighting products.
While in college at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, he designed a new network for St. Veronica School in Howell, which led to a call from the Rev. Thomas O’Connor, Dalton’s pastor at St. Robert Bellarmine Roman Catholic Church in Freehold Township, whose own network was seemingly possessed, vaporizing chunks of important data.
After fixing that problem, Dalton moved on to designing a new security system for the church, along with a state-of-the-art audio-visual system for St. Robert’s new sanctuary, the effect of which has been near-miraculous: With the words to every hymn displayed on a pair of 9-by-12-foot projection screens above the altar, more people are singing during Mass, O’Connor has said, something the Catholic Church has been prodding the faithful to do for a long time.
With a growing list of happy pastors singing his praises, Dalton, while still at NJIT, decided in 2001 to start his own consulting company, IT Initiatives, using a line of credit from American Express for seed money. Since then, the company has done work for 40 Catholic churches and schools and other institutions in New Jersey and New York, largely by word of mouth.
“Pastors,” Dalton said he soon discovered, “network very well.” He declined to provide sales figures, but said his company, which now has eight employees and offices in Freehold Township and New York City, is “very profitable.”
Focusing on the ecclesiastic market presents both opportunities and obstacles for Dalton, a Manalapan resident.
On the one hand, there aren’t many IT companies like his with experience working with Catholic churches and schools, large numbers of which are in desperate need of high-tech upgrades.
On the other hand, Catholic pastors, who typically function like the CEOs of their parishes, sometimes aren’t familiar or comfortable with computers and other technological innovations, Dalton said. And even when they are tech-savvy, funding such projects is often problematic, depending on the financial wherewithal and generosity of parishioners.
Being a Catholic, as well as a techie, has helped Dalton navigate these waters.
“I think that’s a great comfort for (pastors), knowing we have that knowledge,” he said of his Catholic background. “And, of course, we understand that the church doesn’t want to spend a lot of money.”
Dalton said his long-term plan for IT Initiatives is to expand beyond its niche market and broaden its reach beyond New Jersey and New York, but calls for help from Catholic churches and schools are likely to keep him busy for some time.
“We’re very happy,” said Rolf Friedmann, the parish administrator at St. Robert’s, which has continued to use Dalton as a consultant. “He makes sure we’re on the leading edge of technology.”
One of the largest projects Dalton has undertaken so far was for Holy Cross School in Rumson, which recently completed a new junior high wing for the seventh and eighth grades that cost $3.7 million. The project, which is being funded through an ongoing capital campaign, included wireless PCs, a multi-media conference room where teachers and pupils can display PowerPoint presentations, a computerized library and a head-turning, multi-use “gymatorium” with projection screens and a computerized audio-visual system.
Patricia Graham, the school’s principal, said the project underscores the pressure even well-heeled parochial schools face today to keep pace with their public and private counterparts, which in many cases are better-funded and technologically equipped.
It also reflects heightened concerns about child safety: Dalton designed a security system for the entire Holy Cross campus that allows school officials to program when the doors open and close, which enables various parish groups to access the buildings in the evening without having to have someone let them in. The comings and goings on school property are digitally recorded by discreet cameras and projected unto a pair of plasma monitors in the school’s main office, among other monitoring stations. Graham can also watch what’s going on from her desktop PC.
“If there’s a problem in the playground, I’m able to see that,” she said. (St. Rose High School, Dalton’s alma mater, wants him to design a similar system for its campus.)
Graham’s report card on Dalton is all A’s.
“John is a very, very bright young man,” she said. “What I liked about working with John was he listened to what we wanted and designed the programs we needed — in other words, he didn’t try to sell us a package.”
Dalton continues to visit Holy Cross on a regular basis to check on the various new systems. Last Thursday night, he was back for the student production of “Peter Pan,” the first performance in the high-tech gymatorium, to make sure the wireless lighting and sound system worked the way he designed it to, which it did.
The lead of the show, fifth-grader Michael Finan, 10, Fair Haven, was fitted with a wireless microphone, another innovation Dalton has brought to the school.
“He was very excited about that,” Dalton said.
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