ACKSON, Miss. -- NOT long ago, TiAndrea Beasley would no sooner have plunged her hands into the electronic guts of a personal computer than she would have stuck her head under a car's hood to change the spark plugs. But that was before TiAndrea, a 17-year-old high school senior, enrolled in a computer engineering technology class at her school in Port Gibson, Miss., a small rural town about 50 miles southwest of Jackson.

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Now TiAndrea, a B-plus student who plans to study business and accounting after she graduates next year, can install the operating system on any computer she builds in less than a half-hour.

"You know it's a man's thing, but women are doing it," she said as her computer beeped in the background. Then, grinning half in jest toward her computer construction partner, Sarah Reynolds, another 17-year-old senior, she added, "Building computers is easy."

TiAndrea and Sarah were among about a dozen students busy in the school's computer instruction classroom, which for at least three hours a day, Monday through Friday, has of late been a homespun computer assembly plant. And while every eye and hand in the room appeared sure with microprocessors and motherboards, all the students, including the boys, confessed that before taking the course they had never imagined themselves building computers with less sweat than it takes to build a fire.

Add another 39 senior high schools across the state that are similarly training students to build computers, and the scope of an unparalleled statewide plan begins to emerge. TiAndrea and Sarah said they couldn't be more proud to be a part of the mission: building about 6,000 computers so that every Mississippi classroom will have an online computer by the end of 2002.

"It is a joyful thing," said Lee A. Howard, 52, the instructor of the Port Gibson computer class and a former shop teacher, as he watched his students cranking out computers so that others could use them. "I was going to retire before this came around. This really rejuvenated me."

The statewide effort had its climax on Dec. 11, when 125 Mississippi high school students, some of whom had ridden for hours from tiny towns in minibuses, arrived in Jackson for what organizers called a Blitz Build: a single day in which scores of computers are built from scratch at a single location. The day's labors at Jackson State University produced the last 275 computers needed to fulfill the state's classroom needs.

Among those who gathered to mark the occasion was Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, who shortly after his election two years ago set a goal of having an Internet-connected computer in every public-school classroom in the state by the end of 2002. That accomplishment would be a first for any state, according to the National Governors Association in Washington - and an uncommon distinction for Mississippi, whose public education system has for years ranked near or at the bottom in most national assessments.

Wiring of all 30,000 classrooms for the Internet should be complete by the governor's deadline, educators said. The larger hurdle at the outset was obtaining computers for the 6,000 classrooms that still lacked them. Officials said the state could not afford to buy that many through conventional means.

Through a combination of luck, timing and the determination of a few technology activists, Governor Musgrove became acquainted with ExplorNet, a nonprofit educational organization based in North Carolina that trains teachers to instruct students in building personal computers. In May, Governor Musgrove enlisted ExplorNet as a major component of his Computers in the Classroom initiative.

With the help of a $4.4 million grant administered by the Mississippi Development Authority that was used mostly to buy components, teams of students began building computers in July, with many working through the summer for $8 an hour.

The students spent the first nine weeks of the course studying computer terminology, how computers function and how best to work with them, said Andrew L. Smith, director of ExplorNet in Mississippi. Each student was given a basic tool kit, but a standard screwdriver is what most of them used. Much of the work involved correctly connecting and inserting 10 major components, including the main circuit board, into a computer case.

The kits, which include fully assembled 15-inch monitors, cost the organizers $685 a piece, roughly half what the state was paying its vendors, Mr. Smith said. Each computer has a 1,000-megahertz microprocessor, a 40-gigabyte hard drive, a high-speed CD-ROM drive and a network card, and uses the Microsoft Windows 98 operating system.

In class, many students took as long as 90 minutes to complete their first computers, Mr. Smith said. "But after they put 20 to 30 of them together, they get an 'I know how to do this' confidence," he added. And with that, he said, assembly times usually shrink to 15 to 20 minutes.

"This is something that needs to be done," said Mr. Smith, a Mississippi native. "It provides an opportunity for teachers to open up their classrooms to the world. No longer will they be confined to the chalkboard and four walls of their room."

Now that the computers have been assembled, students will focus on repairing, maintaining and upgrading computers in their schools and communities, said Dave Boliek, ExplorNet's co-founder and chief executive.

While Mississippi's black students, particularly those in the poorest rural areas, are less likely to have access to Internet-linked computers than the state's white students, Mr. Smith said that ExplorNet's purpose in Mississippi was not specifically to close a racial gap - the so-called digital divide - in technology. He said the program's focus was rather to give computer access to all of the state's students, whoever or wherever they are.

At the Blitz Build held at Jackson State, Governor Musgrove spoke as the final batch of computers were being built and readied for delivery. "I think it sends a great message to our people here,'' he said. "One, that our people are tremendously talented and capable, and then, number two, the message outside the borders of our state is that education is a priority."

As the governor talked, the students laid down their screwdrivers and froze in respectful attention.

"He seems like a good dude," said A. J. Harris, a 16-year-old junior who had traveled three hours by bus, as Mr. Musgrove toured the work stations in a red sweater, an open-collared shirt and khakis. "I'm just glad to be here. Making computers is something I just like to do."

A. J. estimated that he had made 20 computers since he started the class this year. As a result, he said, he can no longer look at computers the way he used to. "When we had problems with a couple of desktops we have at school, we used to have to call tech people," he said. "Now we can fix our own problems."

Chase Caldwell, a junior at Durant High School, 50 miles north of Jackson, said his computer-building experience there had turned him into a "tech." His teacher, Sharon Mullen, said the class had helped transform Chase from a quiet, withdrawn student into a more confident, capable one. His prowess with chips and circuits earned him a job at the local Radio Shack, she said. She also noted that he even joined the governor at the lectern to speak about the program.

At her school, Ms. Mullen said, the computer class is not limited to the academically gifted but is oriented toward students who are likely to benefit from its hands-on approach. In the past, hands-on tasks have been seen as the stuff of vocational training. But with the computer course, "this is a hands-on academic program," she said. For many students, it was an irresistible combination.

The only thing that Cliff Shackleford, a 17-year-old senior who is a hulking left guard for his school's football team, loves more than football is building computers. He said he was so inspired by building computers at Hernando High School, in the northwest corner of the state, that he was forming a computer repair company with two school friends.

Such ambitions are now commonplace, said Robin Costa, president of the Maddox Foundation, a philanthropic organization that has supported ExplorNet. She said she became involved with the governor's initiative to get computers into Mississippi classrooms after moving to the state from Nashville and noticing that her daughter had no computer in her elementary school classroom.

One of the most exciting results, she said, is not only that computers are being placed in classrooms, but that the students who built them are learning marketable skills. Preparing students for certification as computer technicians is an important goal of the program.

Alan Moore, who graduated last year from Durant High School, said that studying and building computers in school gave him enough practical experience to land a job as a sales associate and computer technician at an electronics store.

"Before the class I was reading a lot out of books," said Mr. Moore, 20. Now, he said, he is preparing for his A-plus certification as a computer technician while pursuing a degree in computer science at Holmes Community College. The background he acquired in high school also helped him set up a small computer assembly and repair business that he operates from his home, he said.

Such testimonials are not lost on Tawane Burks, 17. At Port Gibson High School, where he is a senior, Tawane is generally seen as the resident computer guru, geek and gadfly. After building at least 100 computers in class and during the six-week summer effort, he acknowledges that he has acquired a sort of circuit-board green thumb.

"People come and ask me things," he said, as he hovered over several open computers at the Blitz Build. "Most of the time it's teachers asking. It makes me feel good."

When he is not building computers and going to school, he works with his father and brother for his uncle's construction company, building houses and putting on roofs. Until the computer course came along, he said, he was content with the prospect of joining the family business when he finished high school and perhaps one day starting his own construction company.

But now, Tawane said, nodding at a newly assembled computer, "this is what I want to do."