Category Archives: STEM Challenge

In England at the turn of the last century, a young man named Jacob (whose last name is not known) was on his way to a society event dressed in his finest attire and carrying only his umbrella in case of rain. Naturally, his journey was beset with obstacles. A barrier placed in the middle of the street (by a misguided commissioner, perhaps) that could only be escalated by climbing a delivery crate. Rain clouds hanging low like giant parade…

California high school student Sooraj Suresh was asleep when his father entered his room to tell him he had just won the National STEM Video Game Challenge. Sooraj was excited of course. But, like a typical teenager, he wasted no time in going back to sleep. The next day at school his friends congratulated him on his award-winning game, Pixel Star One. They all wanted to try it out as soon as possible. In person at the Games for Change…

  The photo above was taken last night at NYU’s Skirball Center at the 11th Annual Games for Change Festival Awards Ceremony as these fourteen young people from all over the country were being honored for their achievements as winners of the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge. Gaming has touched the current generation of learners in a new way. The 2013 National STEM Video Game Design Challenge challenged enthusiastic students around the country to look under the hood of…

A designer in many senses of the world, Janice Tran is the high school winner of the 2013 STEM Challenge Best Game Design Document. Although she was a high school senior when she won, Janice is now a freshman in college where she is studying graphic design.  She has been designing since she was young and hopes to harness this creative talent into a career in concept art design, either on a national or international level.  And, like all of…

One morning last summer in DeRidder, Louisiana, Angel Acevedo-Martinez’s father came into his room and woke him up with exciting news. Angel’s 6th grade math teacher, Miss Sanchez was on the phone to tell him that his game, The Arcade, had been chosen as a winner in the National STEM Video Game Challenge in Washington, DC. Before that spring, Angel had never designed a game of his own, and now here he was, an award winner in a national competition!…

Like many of our winners, Cody Haugland was raised around computers. But his interests extend beyond the virtual armies and farms that his counterparts are absorbed with. A member of the Junior ROTC and an avid farmer, Cody knows the meaning of hard work. Cody claims that he grew up around computers, electronics, and video games. He has fond memories of the original gameboy, but it wasn’t until he received an Xbox that the game design bug hit when his…

Seong-Hyun Ryoo is a swimmer, artist, budding filmmaker and a very talented game designer. An 8th grader from Georgia, he seems mature and responsible for someone his age, speaking with a level of composure one would not expect from a middle schooler. That said, the strong sense of discipline that became evident during our interview helped him clinch the Best Middle School Gamemaker game in the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge. Seong-Hyun believes that games can be used to…

As we gear up for the long Labor Day Weekend, most are planning to relax and unwind, or perhaps to attend a barbecue or two. After all, how much can get done in a weekend? The answer: a whole lot if you’re High School team winners Noah Ratcliff and Pamela Pizarro-Ruiz. They spent a sleepless 48 hours from design to final completion on Fog, their entry to the National STEM Video Game Challenge. Fog is a puzzle game where players…

Lexi Schneider is an artist, basketball player, and incredibly curious about the world around her…so curious in fact, that on her first foray into game design, she won the Best Written Middle School Game in the National STEM Video Game Challenge. “Head of the Class,” a written entry, takes place in a virtual school where each level is a different animation, inspired by classic comic strips. After a brief video introduction, the player is challenged to solve puzzles within each…

Continuing our spotlight on the STEM Challenge Winners, we are pleased to introduce you to Kieran Luscombe, winner of the Gamestar Mechanic High School prize. When presented with a set of tools, Kieran says that he always “finds a use for everything and then I use it to the best of my ability.” And by always pushing himself, he managed to create An Untold Adventure, the best High School Gamestar Mechanic game, in this year’s National STEM Video Game Challenge!…