Girl Scouts Create Video Games at NAU

The Girl Scouts held a two-day Video Game Weekend Workshop at Northern Arizona University on July 1st and 2nd hosting 50 6th – 10th grade girls, over half from the Navajo Nation, on campus. The girls gained the full college experience with meals in the dining hall, an overnight in the dorms, instruction from a college professor.

For the past year the Girl Scouts have partnered with ASU Assistant Professor Ashish Amresh to host multiple “Girls Design Video Games” workshops at the ASU Polytechnic campus. Dr. Amresh directs the ASU Interactive Lab and is an Assistant Professor in Software Engineering and is leading the Computer Gaming curriculum initiatives at Arizona State University, where he founded the Computer Gaming Certificate, Camp Game and UTBC summer programs. This was their first overnight camp, and first camp at NAU.

In this two day program Girl Scouts explored what technology has to offer and met professionals in technology fields. The girls learned what it takes to be a video game developer and created their own video game! They also learned the basics of Java Script, how to create an app, and participated in a competition to identify the characteristics of an innovative video game.

Graduate student Corey Heath helps young coders develop their video games

Thank you to Professor Amresh,  Corey Heath,  Crystal Dingott and the rest of the team from the Girl Scouts Cactus-Pine Council that helped make this weekend workshop a success! The program was supported by a grant from Freeport McMoRan.

Professor Amresh, Corey Heath, Girl Scout leaders, and Girl Scout Game Developers!