Getting Educated

Reporting on this story was fun and interesting, probably more so than any other piece I've done. School systems and improvements in education are something to look out, in my opinion, and Pathfinder (the game this story was about) is an idea worth hearing about.

Many times in studies and research we hear about students in lower-income areas who go to school with limited resources. However, this story wasn't about that so much as it was about trying to address one particular issue in the school - college. I didn't realize that college counselors were being taken out of schools due to budget cuts, so finding out that USC was working on this game was really interesting.

Seeing the kids play the game first hand really showed me that they weren't ignorant and apathetic about college just because no one was assigned to guide them. In fact, they were eagerly playing and getting competitive. Games like these that offer information in easy, affordable ways really will improve education, I think. It's still in research phases, but it's a promising idea.

What was interesting was that the 5 students who helped design the game and/or the PR campaign didn't actually play the game when applying to college - they had already gone through the process. However, they all said they wished they had it during their junior year.
I knew what I was doing when I was applying to college because I had family, friends, and counselors around me to guide me. If I hadn't though, it would have been an incredibly confusing process, something researchers and students are hoping Pathfinder will help in.