MOUNT WASHINGTON — It’s no game for some Bullitt East students.
The community had an opportunity to check out what’s taking place in the Digital Game Design classroom at Bullitt East High School, one of the many pathways provided at the school and presented during its CTE Advisory Night open house.
Assistant principal Mike Brangers said it was the first in-person advisory night hosted by the school since the Covid pandemic. He informed families, future students, and community members that the event was a showcase for all of the various programs and student success.
“We plan to continue it in person in the fall and in the spring next year,” Brangers said. “It is a great opportunity to invite community members, business leaders, and future students to Charger Nation.”
Bullitt County Public Schools College and Career Readiness pathways provided at Bullitt East include Agriculture, Allied Health/Nursing, Business/Accounting and Marketing, Digital Game Design, Early Childhood, Engineering, Food and Nutrition/Culinary, Graphic Design. Law Enforcement, and Teaching/Learning.
“All Bullitt East students are required to sign up for a pathway,” said Brangers. “As our school grows both in attendance and in building size, we want to provide opportunities for the community to see what our students are learning.”
One pathway featured a prototype presentation at the event by students in Daniel Mantell’s Engineering classroom. Student Daniel Tharpe said the water prototype was designed for a tiny house.
Tharpe detailed some of the project’s experimentation, including time spent in a wheelchair to test maneuverability and accessibility in reaching the prototype within the house.
Student Jackson Clark said water tanks in tiny houses did not have enough gravity to function properly. He said the prototype would help, with students researching the problems and finding solutions.
According to student Kayden Jenkins, the prototype came from many testing ideas, which led to the use of tubes and a PVC pipe. Jenkins said students determined that the prototype would work, but there was not enough hot water.
“We researched and researched again until we could find a solution,” he said.
“The class is really fun,” said Clark, who enjoyed the engineering pathway. “We made a catapult in Engineering 1 and we did coding in Engineering 2.”
Tharpe said he enjoyed Engineering 3 although admitting he was nervous about handling wires.
“At the end of the mechanical program you build something,” he said.
“The kids’ imagination is their limit,” said Mantell. “They can come up with anything to be successful.”
In the Computer Science classroom, visitors were introduced to gaming concepts and virtual reality tools, including a new virtual reality treadmill, which allows individuals to walk and turn 360 degrees while wearing vision goggles.
“You’ll stand on it, and you’ll never move, but you will be able to walk and turn 360 degrees (in virtual reality),” said Digital Design & Game Development instructor Nathan Tackett.
According to Tackett, the pathway was just the fifth such program in Kentucky when it began in 2018. He said it introduced students to computer science through video game design.
“This pathway shows techniques for designing advanced simulations and 3-D games,” he said. “It covers 2-D and 3-D graphics, animation, character development, texturing, scripting, program design and coding, and game setup, while using state-of-the-art software development tools.”
One of the classroom’s current Digital Design projects is working with a local company, McMillen Made, where students create and design virtual 3-D house models.
Company owner Taylor McMillen said the virtual technology allowed planners to see various ideas and make desired changes prior to the start of a build.
“Once the footers are poured, that’s it,” he said. “This would help, you can move walls around and determine plans before the work starts.”
MicMillen and Tackett, both former Bullitt East students, discussed the possibility of using virtual reality house designs, leading to the classroom concept.
“I checked with him to see if he was interested,” Tackett said. “I knew he did this.”
“(Tackett) was picking my brain, and eventually we provided actual blueprints,” McMillen said. “The houses they are working on now are from the students’ own plans.”
McMillen assists students by checking their blogs and emailing recommendations. He is currently assisting with six individual house projects.
“You can move walls around, you can move furniture, you can add more colors,” said McMillen. “It makes my job easier, with less change orders. I’m glad to work with (the students), any way that I can give back and be involved.”
Tackett said the multi-year project was focused on floor plans this semester, with more developments in future years.
“We will see the actual house prior to the build,” he said. “With this multi-year project, this year we’re focused on development, next year we’ll focus on more color, furniture, etc., and the next year we’ll have a program that actual clients can use.”
A new project for Game Develop students involved the creation of a 3-D Bullitt East school building, with the goal of providing a virtual orientation for incoming freshmen to visit the campus and see where their classes would be located prior to the first day of school.
The project involves the program’s Business Co-op students. Tackett said pathway students take Game Design in their first year, followed by Intro to Programming and then Advanced Game Development.
Student Kevin Campbell said the plans were based on fire escape drills and other building floor plans. He said the program would allow new students to virtually visit the campus from home.
According to student RJ Goben, students could begin their visit by first determining if they will be a car rider or bus rider. The program will then start the student at the proper entrance.
From there, students type in their classroom schedules. The program will take them from the entrance to their first classroom door, allowing the student to see what the walk will be like. An audio introduction from the classroom teacher will be included.
“It helps students understand the layout, where their classes are,” said Goben. “The biggest principle is to know where to go and when.”
“It also includes freshmen orientation general information,” Campbell added.
Goben said Game Design students researched and learned a great deal of code to prepare the program. Campbell said he had previous coding experience from designing models of semi trucks, as well as experience with developing a diagram. He said the new program included “more minute details.”
Campbell mentioned implementing the ProBuilder program, the same used for the house designs, that allowed student programmers to move objects or walls and add various details such as hall lockers.
The students also included an informational quiz in the program to help provide more common school knowledge.
“Once you get 100 percent on the quiz, then you can do free roam,” Goben said. Free roam allows participants to move anywhere throughout the building, rather than sticking to just their personal schedule.
Though the work could be tedious, even difficult, both students said they had fun learning how to implement the programs and creating a replica of their school.
“It can get tough,” Goben said. “We’ve ran into problems we just can’t fix without redoing it all. Sometimes we find work-arounds. On my side, I’m developing good formatting habits.”
According to Tackett, virtual reality-related jobs increased by 1,500 percent and gaming jobs by 500 percent in the past four years. He added that in 2021, 70 percent of those jobs remained unfilled.
“It has advanced a lot,” he said. “It’s something where a student can basically name their price. In 2022 you could start a job with a salary at $80,000 to $85,000.”
For more information on the Bullitt County Public Schools College and Career Readiness pathway programs, call (502)869-8000 or visit bullitt.k12.ky.us.