STCC Creates, hosted by the STEM Starter Academy at STCC, was yet another wonderful STEM based event! This year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the competition was run online with the help of Zoom. It was a week-long event with two days where all the students and professors met up collectively at the beginning and the end of the week. It was our job to set up meetings with our team to keep in touch and work on our respective projects throughout the week. I’ve participated in the in-person STCC Creates events as well as this online one. It was definitely very different participating in this event online.
The whole process was a learning experience that I feel is very useful in the modern world. Being able to communicate with a whole team through only online means will definitely be helpful for students in their future workplace! On the day of the actual presentation, every team showed up with such wonderful technological prototypes whether they were apps, websites, simulations, and video games. There were apps can you can use to sell your textbooks, the beginnings of whole social media empires, websites with useful information and great layouts and many more.
The two winning teams both created video game prototypes, one was a first person shooter game created through the Blender software and the other a side scrolling platform game that was reminiscent of the retro Super Mario games. Each team did a walkthrough with commentary and it was so entertaining to watch. Both of the games were aimed towards student success at STCC and removing roadblocks to get you in the right direction of earning your diploma and graduating. The fact that they were able to create a playable game within one week is incredibly impressive! At the end of the day everyone left the event with newfound ability and a greater appreciation for online interactions and communication.
I was part of a team with Amirah Mahdy, Andrew Aiken, Donasia Flintroy, and Michael Dean. We were called STCC STEMgineers. Click here to see our website. Visit our Facebook page, our Twitter page, Instagram and YouTube.
