Masco’s senior internship program offers students a chance to explore potential future career paths. While many have left the building in order to follow this interest, two seniors have worked at Masco alongside their teacher to create their own video games.
Seniors Gabe Russo and James Payne have been working with computer science teacher Alan McCarthy to learn game design software and build their own games in order to prepare for the next step of their educational journey.
“I am making a playable game demo in Unity to gain experience on solo game development and creating my own project by myself,” said Payne. “I’m teaching myself a game engine and using multiple applications to create a product.”
By creating their own games, Russo and Payne gain valuable experience in developing publicly released software in the future.
“The end goal is to create actual products for people to play,” said Russo.
While Payne and Russo have primarily worked independently in creating software, they have had a mentor along the way to guide them through the process.
“In a typical internship, the intern would work off-site, like in a company, they will have a guide at that company, some type of manager there,” said McCarthy. “So with them doing it here, I’m their guide and then also their mentor.”
As the internship went on, Payne learned life skills through each task.
“I learned a lot about how to pace yourself, how to make sure you have something before you get too ambitious. I’ve also learned how to learn as you go and manage your time,” said Payne.
Similarly, Russo has also learned valuable lessons throughout his time on this project.
“For me, it’s pretty much the same thing, perseverance and fixing things when it doesn’t work initially,” said Russo.
As the two students chipped away at their projects, they shared some important advice for future seniors looking for guidance on their internship.
“You want your internship to mean something. This is a very unique opportunity that seniors have, so I recommend you use it to its fullest and do something that you are truly passionate about,” said Russo.
Although Payne enjoys the game design process, remaining in the classroom puts a slight damper on his enjoyment.
“I think that is the unfortunate aspect of what I’m doing; I am still in school, so there’s that familiarity. And I don’t really have a workplace experience of being within a different building with other people, having like a proper commute,” said Payne. “That’s the only unfortunate aspect, but there weren’t any game studios that were looking for interns.”
Both Payne and Russo have AP classes to attend as well, so their internship being in the building has been convenient for them.
“They’re here every day for about 4 hours, because they also have AP exams,” said McCarthy. “So they’ll do a couple hours in my classroom, and then they work in the library or any space that they find available, if I’m not in the classroom.”
With the internship fair being a little under a week away, both Russo and Payne will present their games, demonstrating the number of skills they have built.