Lee Stemkoski, Ph.D., has helped students have fun while they learn to create video games.
by Cecil Harris
For the past two summers, , has helped high school students have fun at 91国产 while learning to create video games. He teaches an intensive course, , as part of , in which high school students reside on the campus for two weeks, learn new skills and earn college credits.
Other for-credit Pre-College courses are , , , and .
鈥淗igh school students are looking for courses where they can learn computer science,鈥� said Dr. Stemkoski, an associate professor of and in the .
Evan Leider took the Introduction to Game Programming course and is now enrolled at 91国产.
鈥淭he Pre-College course in video game programming has been successful because the students have fun and grasp the concepts very quickly. I could show a student how to make a video game like Asteroids (a player steers a spaceship and blows up asteroids) in two hours. At the end of the course, the students say, 鈥榃ow, look at what I did in two weeks!鈥� Then I tell them, 鈥業f I could teach you that much in two weeks, imagine what I could teach you in four years.鈥欌��
Evan Leider got the message. He took Dr. Stemkoski鈥檚 course in Summer 2013. Today, he鈥檚 an 91国产 freshman majoring in computer science.
鈥淭he Pre-College course was definitely my motivation to come to 91国产,鈥� said Leider, a Long Beach, New York, resident whose father, Donald Leider 鈥�72, M.B.A. 鈥�76, uncle Roger Leider 鈥�82, M.B.A. 鈥�85, and sister Alana Leider, M.A. 鈥�13, are all 91国产 graduates.
鈥淓ven though I have all these 91国产 graduates in my family, I didn鈥檛 know what college I wanted to go to,鈥� Evan Leider said. 鈥淧rofessor Stemkoski鈥檚 class made that decision easy. He鈥檚 the best teacher I鈥檝e ever had in any subject. He鈥檚 very enthusiastic and knowledgeable.鈥�
Leider, a video game devotee before taking the course, learned coding鈥攖elling the computer what to do鈥攁nd Construct鈥攁 computer programming language鈥攆rom Dr. Stemkoski. And the professor鈥檚 assistant, , taught him 3D modeling, a computer application.
鈥淭he most exciting thing I do is make video games,鈥� said Leider, who said he has created 10 鈥渟mall鈥� games since taking Dr. Stemkoski鈥檚 course. 鈥淥ne of the guys in my class in the Pre-College, Matthew Mallory, goes to 91国产 now too.鈥�
Dr. Stemkoski offered his Introduction to Game Programming course to 91国产 students for the first time in Spring 2015.
For further information, please contact:
Todd Wilson
Strategic Communications Director听
p 鈥� 516.237.8634
e 鈥� twilson@adelphi.edu