More News

Video games can make children do crazy things, like go to school on a Saturday.

About 200 students from Prince George's County and throughout the region spent Saturday morning in classrooms at Kenmoor Middle School in Landover for the county's first Video Game Technology Conference, where students in grades five through 12 learned how they could turn their love of playing video games into profitable careers.

The event, hosted by the Patriots Technology Training Center in Seat Pleasant, brought several local video game and computer science experts to speak to classrooms of youths about the basics of the video game industry and the education they need to design and create games.

"A lot of kids play video games, so I say, why not teach them to design video games?" said Thurman Jones, founder of Patriots.

Through the Patriots center, Jones teaches students about basic computer skills in science, technology, engineering and math, known as the STEM fields, in hopes of leading them down a more high-tech career path.

At the conference, students attended two of several half-hour workshops on topics such as becoming a game developer, marketing and promotions, and concepts of game design. Afterward, students huddled around dozens of interactive video game stations, provided by Jones' organization and a local Best Buy store in Bowie.

Jones said he plans to hold the conference every year.

"When the bell rings after school, where do you go to learn about this?" he asked. "A lot of kids think about it, but they don't know where to go to learn."

Cliff Godfrey, 16, of Alexandria, Va., who graduated high school in Virginia earlier this year and helps run a video game club with the Patriots center, said he was glad some parents came with their children.

"We want the adults to come out here and show them that this isn't just for kids," Cliff said. "It really is an art, and it's a great skill to learn."

Jones partnered with the Prince George's County school system to get the word out about the event, which had far-reaching appeal.

Seat Pleasant resident Jacque Byrd brought her nephew, third-grader Landon Watson, all the way from Aldie, Va., to attend the conference.

"All kids play these games, and I think it's important for them to know what the next step is," Byrd said. "It'll give him an opportunity to see what different career paths he can go into."

The next step, according to the experts, is education and training. Jay Crossler, a software engineer for the nonprofit MITRE Corp., a systems engineering and information technology company based in McClean, Va., told students the best way to break into the industry is to attend college and study computer science.

"The important thing is for them to start planning their future now," Crossler said. "I tell them to think about their life like a video game. What's the next level?"

Video game design, like so many other fields, is grounded in computer science, Crossler said. There are countless other career opportunities stemming from earning a computer science degree in college, he said.

Even though college may be years away for some of youth who attended, there are other ways for students to start learning now about programming. Cy Khormaee, an academic relations manager with Microsoft, showed students Web sites that provide free instruction and software they can use to start creating games.

"We want kids to know there are no barriers to them, especially with regards to software and gaming technology," Khormaee said. "Gaming is something that's at their fingertips."

Parents were excited at the prospects the conference revealed, but several said they had hoped the workshops would be more technical in nature.

Shownda Wooden, a science coordinator at Accokeek Academy who brought her students to the conference, thinks in future years the conference will continue to improve. 

"Listening to some of the things going on in the classrooms, you can tell all of the students will take something from this," she said.