Our goal was to introduce high school students, with no previous game experience, to Unity game development. Their newly developed skills could be used to develop video games and augmented reality experiences. Additionally, we took them on field trips around Boston, asked them to look at monuments, and challenged them to use their new skills to propose ways to update those monuments or create new ones with augmented reality.

We partnered with Artists for Humanity (AFH) and the City of Boston Successlink program to make these workshops accessible to students. AFH loaned us administrative support, wise council, and computers to help make the program possible, while the Successlink Program paid the students $15 pr/hr to participate in the program.

Zach Shirikjian, a graduate of Fitchburg State’s game design program, lead the workshops, assisted by two rising college sophomores, and Boston natives, from Harvard and UMass Boston. Not only did they use their computer science skills to teach technology, but they also had the opportunity to interact and learn about the city in new ways.

During this pilot year, four 14 - 17 year olds enrolled in the program, and their games were on display in the Big Summa’ Show, at the AFH in South Boston (August 24, 2023).