As a middle schooler, Sam Nadol picked up a life-changing hobby: Sifting through broken computers at his local recycling center and bringing them back to life.
By the time he was 12, he had refurbished eight computers. They each sold within hours of listing them on Craigslist.
When the Westchester, New York teen transitioned to high school, he learned about a $600 grant program for student projects. That’s when he launched Reboot PC, a school project that would later evolve into a full-fledged nonprofit.
The first person to approach Nadol about Reboot PC was Roger Battacharia, a volunteer with Ossining Padres Hispanos, an organization that provides education opportunities in the Hispanic community.
Through Battacharia, Nadol made his first official donation of a dozen computers.
Since then, he has gotten refurbished computers into the hands of people who need them most, including schoolchildren in Haiti.
“Sam brings computers where they’re desperately needed,” Battacharia praised. “That would have been another several thousand pounds of electronics in a landfill.”
In August 2024, Nadol started his freshman year at Purdue University, where he’s on track to study computer engineering.
That same fall, he donated his 500th computer — this time to a group of Ukrainian refugees based in Brooklyn, New York.
“I get thank-you letters from recipients saying my computer helped them get a job or keep in touch with family,” Nadol said. “Being able to make an impact in people’s lives is the most rewarding part of what I do.”
A version of this article was originally published in The 2025 Technology Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
Header image by Roboflow Universe
