Meet the Games Development Group
Lourdes, Edward, Zihang and Willie are the four students from the approximately 80 participating students, who have continued with the Math Game’s project and who have developed the games to the high level of engagement and math achievement for K-3rd grade students. Edward and Zihang both had prior computer science experience; however, this project provided both challenges and obstacles in learning gaming protocol, including graphics. Lourdes and Willie had no computer science experience prior to their participation in the math games project and both are now well experienced and confident in their skills in producing math based computer games. All four students were high school sophomores when they enrolled into the math based games project and attended and graduated from Title I high schools in the Sacramento region. They are living proof and examples that student based ingenuity is not bound by zip codes, income, gender, or color and when provided with opportunity, support and knowledge, showcases into excellence and achievement that forces the world to take notice as evidenced by the CaliBears Math Essentials products.
Lourdes Cabrera
My name is Lourdes Cabrera. I studied Human Development and Education and earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in 2017 from the University of California, Davis and I attended Grant Union High School in Sacramento, California. My participation in the NSF ITEST program taught me how to code in two different languages. In ITEST I learned to collaborate with other group members and I worked with professionals, incorporating their feedback into my work. The ultimate goal for the ITEST high school students was to create a CCS based math game for 1st and 2nd grade students attending urban area elementary schools – we were all successful. Now, I am a Senior Games Developer for the design and implementation of the CaliBears Math Essentials© CCS based games, but my experience all began when a young 16-year- old said ‘yes’ to the ITEST program.
Edward Ozeruga
My name is Edward Ozeruga and I started writing (editing) code when I was 14 and a student at Grant Union High School in Sacramento, California. I initially taught myself computer science by learning to use the PHP language from on-line sources. After completing a computer science course at my high school and participating two years in the NSF computer science project, I took the AP Computer Science exam and earned a 5, the highest score possible on the exam, and I became an AP Scholar. I selected computer science as a college major after taking the AP Computer Science class in high school and enrolling into the NSF computer science games project. I am now a graduate from California State University, Sacramento with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science and a minor in Math and currently employed as a Software Developer.
Zihang Ruan
I am Zihang Ruan and I came to the United States when I was 14- years-old. I attended and graduated from C. K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento, California. I enrolled into the computer gaming project in my sophomore year of high school and completed both the summer and the yearlong ITEST class at my high school. There was no computer science course at my high school, but based upon experience with the computer gaming project, my school started an after school computer class and I used my ITEST training to co-teach the class with the credential classroom teacher. During in my junior year of high school, I studied for and prepared myself academically to take the AP Computer Science test and I passed with a 5 and became an AP Scholar. I am now a junior at San Jose State University majoring in Computer Science. In the summer of my junior year of college, I interned at Facebook as a Software Engineer.
Willie Tatum
My name is Willie Julian Tatum III and I am from Sacramento, California. I graduated from Grant Union High School in 2013 with a 3.86 GPA and earned three varsity letters for varsity baseball and basketball. I was selected to participate in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program for two years for my junior and senior years of high school. The ITEST classes were held at Sacramento State University and I and the other program participants received college level computer science engineering instruction and coursework. Prior to my enrollment into this program, I had no experience in the field of computer science. In the program, I discovered that I not only enjoyed learning to code, but that I had a talent for the curriculum. As a project, we created math-based computer games for elementary students, especially for urban students from challenging educational backgrounds. After completing the ITEST program and graduating from high school, I moved from Sacramento to San Jose to attend San Jose State University where I played Division 1 baseball while majoring in Computer Engineering before switching my major to Kinesiology.