Meet the Winners: Kimberly Do

Kimberly Do, 16, has a deep fascination with outer space. An avid member of her school’s NASA Student Astronaut Challenge team, the Plant City, Florida native used cosmological interest to inspire her game design, Escape Velocity, winner of the High School Game Design Document category of the 2016 National STEM Video Game Challenge. Kimberly learned about the STEM Challenge when she participated in a workshop at the Glazer Children’s Museum, and was excited to combine her love of art and coding in order to create her game design. In Escape Velocity, players learn about the physics behind orbital trajectories and explore space as they attempt to rescue a lost shuttle crew.

“The most valuable lesson I learned while creating this game was to always persevere,” says Kimberly. “I worked hard to complete all of my self-created deadlines, going through ten drafts and countless artistic edits in order to complete my vision for Escape Velocity.” When she’s not designing games, Kimberly enjoys illustrating and making digital art, in addition to listening to music, crocheting, reading, and cooking. After high school, she plans to study computer science, and is interested in working in UX as a product designer. Kimberly encourages other aspiring designers to follow their passion and always persevere.