Community Corner
Lawrenceville Student Named Winner in National STEM Video Game Challenge
New York, NY, July 9, 2013 –The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and E-Line Media today announced the names of 16 middle school and high school students as the winners of the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge. The competition aims to motivate interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) among students in grades 5-12 by tapping into their enthusiasm for playing and making video games. The top original video games and game design concepts were selected in 14 categories from nearly 4000 entries.
The 2013 STEM Challenge winners are:
Middle School (grades 5-8)
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Name
Title
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Platform (Category)
City, State
Seong-Hyun Ryoo
Rare Earth
Gamemaker
Johns Creek, GA
Angel Martinez-Acevedo
The Arcade
GameStar Mechanic
DeRidder, LA
Nicholas Cameron
Math Rocks
Kodu
Sayville, NY
Nicolas Badila
Stemville
Construct 2 (Open Platform)
Jonesboro, GA
Bradley Schmitz
Pixel Jet
Scratch
Glandorf, OH
Henry Edwards and Kevin Kopczynski
Etiquette Anarchy
Multimedia Fusion 2 (Team)
Durham, NC
Lexi Schneider
Head of the Class
Written
Dresher, PA
High School (grades 9-12)
Name
Title
Platform (Category)
City, State
Sooraj Suresh
Pixel Star One
Gamemaker
Campbell, CA
Kieran Luscombe
An Untold Adventure
GameStar Mechanic
Thorton, CO
Cody Haugland
The Amazing Game
Kodu
Sanger, CA
Aaron Gaudette
Crystal Physics
Unity (Open Platform)
Ramstein Air Base, Germany
Brianna Igbinosun
I F.L.Y
Scratch
Lawrenceville, GA
Noah Ratcliff and Pamela Pizarro-Ruiz
Fog
C# with XNA (Team)
Pickerington, OH
Janice Tran
Little Green Planet
Written
Palmdale, CA
Each winner will receive an AMD-powered laptop computer with game design and educational software.The individual’s or team’s sponsor organization will receive a cash prize of $2000.
“Youth are natural inventors. They are increasingly shaping their own education by making things,” said Michael H. Levine, Executive Director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. “We are delighted by the record-breaking interest in the National STEM Video Challenge this year and congratulate all of the winners on their superb creative entries.”
The 2013 STEM Challenge is presented by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and E-Line Mediaalong with title sponsors the Entertainment Software Association, the AMD Foundation, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and national community sponsors the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Hive Digital Media Learning Fund in The New York Community Trust. National outreach partners are BrainPOP, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting PBS KIDS Ready To Learn Initiative, Global Kids, Learning Games Network and Edmodo.
The IMLS and Hive were new sponsors this year. Together, they funded a series of STEM Challenge game design workshops to empower young people to utilize creative problem-solving and STEM skills to learn how to build video games. IMLS is a federal agency whose mission is to foster libraries as community centers and to innovate the array and depth of programming to serve the needs of communities. The Hive Digital Media Learning initiative awards grants to bring kids, teachers, scientists and artists together to learn and create beyond the classroom.
The National STEM Video Game Challenge was inspired by President Obama’s “Educate to Innovate Campaign.” Twenty-eight youth were selected as winners in 2012 and three of those winners participated in the 2013 White House Science Fair in April.
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center (www.joanganzcooneycenter.org) is an independent nonprofit research and innovation lab that focuses on the challenges of educating children in a rapidly changing digital media landscape. The Cooney Center conducts research on emerging technologies in education and collaborates with educators, media producers, policymakers and investors to put this research into action. The Cooney Center’s research and programs primarily focus on three areas: games and learning, intergenerational engagement and literacy. The Cooney Center is a co-founder of the Games and Learning Publishing Council and co-presents the annual National STEM Video Game Challenge.
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