Video Games Anyone?

Eastern Center for Arts and Technology student Ali Dredge is getting a jumpstart on her career this summer–that is if a teen can call video game-related duties work. 

Ali, a Hatboro-Horsham High School senior, is student-teaching for Eastern's three-week Video Game Programming Summer Fun class, an enrichment class for middle school students.

Ali is part of the team that won first place for Chapter Display at the SkillsUSA State Competition in April, and returned recently from competing at the national level, placing an impressive 10th in the nation. 

She has always been interested in illustration and has been an artist for as long as she can remember. 

Through her involvement with SkillsUSA, Eastern’s student leadership organization, she has become more comfortable speaking in front of a large group of people. For the winning SkillsUSA Chapter Display design, the team was required to develop a concept to match this year’s national theme “SkillsUSA Champions at Work - Prepared with the Skills America Needs.” 

Ali and her team began with a brainstorming session for the design, and then decided which programs could help them with the materials that they needed to accomplish their goals. Not all aspects of designing and building the Chapter Display went as initially intended, so the group found ways to improvise. 

The team agreed that the finished product turned out better than the initial concept. Ali noted that communication between team members contributed significantly to their success. 

The national competition included both secondary and post-secondary institutions from all over the country.

“This program taught me how to be more professional and has given me skills I can incorporate into real life," Ali said in a press release. "I now have a professional resume, and I feel ready to take on college and anything that comes my way.”

EASTERN’s Commercial Art program covers everything from conceptual drawing and design to a professional portfolio. Students learn the value and application of their unique styles in both design and illustration.

Students use industry-standard software on the Macintosh platform. Software used includes Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Flash.