Majors
Unusual STEAM Pathways: Game Design Extracurriculars
Ready to put your STEAM skills to the test? Are you aiming to pursue video game design and its surrounding industry? You’ll need to expand your learning outside the classroom. Start to seek out opportunities to engage with coding and design skills whenever possible. After all, for those of you in computer science, engineering, or design, it can be difficult to find comprehensive and challenging extracurricular activities. Here are a few counselor-recommended activities you can do that will stand out on your student resume. Let’s get started!
Why do I need these activities to stand out?
In order to best engage with your curriculum, educators encourage students to participate in extracurricular activities that align with their interests. It becomes easy to see the upsides: these activities often teach significant social skills and life lessons. Not to mention allowing students to channel their energy into productive and enjoyable pastimes and extend their learning beyond the classroom boundaries!
Nonetheless, if your favorite activities are solo—or you aren’t able to participate in meet-ups—there are still ways to continue honing your craft and demonstrating your dedication. Here, we have a roundup of reliable game design extracurricular activities to keep you going.
Potential game design extracurriculars*:
*In no particular order.
- iD Tech Camp
- UCLA Game Lab
- Camp Integem
- DigiPen Academy Summer Programs
- Illinois Tech - Online CS camps
- Intro to Video Game Design
- https://urbanartsp.formtitan.com/ApplySIA#/
- Digital Media Academy - Coding and Programming
- AI Camp
- AI Scholars
- BlueStamp Engineering
- Code, Sleep, Repeat
- Experience America Game Development Externship
- Juni Learning
- Techlab
- Upperlinecode
- Stony Brook-Computer Science and Informatics Summer Research Experience Program
And plenty of others not mentioned! Don't give up if none of these programs work with your schedule. Empowerly has a few options that can take you to the next level.
Artificial Intelligence Scholar Program - AISP
Cutting-edge AI technology combined with socially-impactful projects. Empowerly’s AI Scholar program empowers curious junior high and high school students by exposing them to innovative new technology. Our program—developed and taught exclusively by a team of alumni and graduate students from Stanford and MIT—provides guidance on initiating AI projects, pursuing AI ventures, and preparing for college.
Student Internship Program - SIP
Open doors, explore careers, and stand out in college applications. Empowerly’s exclusive Startup Internship Program is designed to give high school & college students the opportunity to explore careers, develop professional skills, work with globally-minded companies and strengthen their resumes.
Consult the Team at Empowerly
Empowerly’s team supports students through each step of the college admissions process. Our community includes college admissions counselors, advisors, researchers, and editors. Whether it’s finding your passion, applying to internships, or getting accepted to your best match college, one of us will be there for you at every stage.
What's more, you can always work on a portfolio.
A personal portfolio is highly recommended for students. Not only can these enhance your resume for internships and scholarships, but they can also cover some of the materials potentially required for your college applications.
A portfolio can include project work from:
- Example websites or programs
- Your own code samples
- Images or videos of games you worked on, mods, levels, prototypes, etc.
Given how vital your portfolio will be now and in the future, it’s advisable to focus on putting one together. Later down the line, in both education and career, it will make up an important part of your submissions.
You can do this! The best time to start working towards your dreams is now.