Thomas County Central High School had three students place or receive scholarships in the Georgia Educational Technology Fair.

Seniors Richard Lewis and Paul Edwards each won a $250 scholarship for Game Design. Senior Hayes Nelson placed third in Animation and received a medal.

The event was held March 5 at Middle Georgia State University in Macon. All three honorees are students in the TCCHS Audio Video Television & Film program, part of the school’s Career Technical Agricultural Education, or CTAE, department.?

Lewis and Edwards did a live presentation of their concept during competition. They named their game “Heroes Adventures.” The game follows a young knight through his quest to defeat the corruption in his homeland and return the land to its former glory.

“We used Project Spark, a software that only works on Windows 8.1 or higher,” Paul Edwards explained. “All objects in Project Spark are premade, but assembling the objects is up to the creator.”

Edwards, 18, said he always wanted to create games and this competition gave him the chance to try it.

“I have enjoyed the opportunity to express some of my creativity and test myself in game development,” he said. “Thanks to this experience my confidence has grown for my future in this career path.”

Scholarships were awarded to seniors who scored the highest in each category, regardless of placement. Richard Lewis, 17, said it “feels great” to receive the scholarship, which he will put toward his pursuit of degrees in mass media, game design, and stage production. Edwards plan to use his scholarship to attend Wiregrass Technical College in Valdosta.

Hayes Nelson, 18, has been a member of the TCCHS ATVF program his entire high school career. He said his instructor, Randy Young, suggested he enter his work in the competition.

“It felt really good to know that all the hard work I put into my project paid off,” he said. “The medal makes me want to continue working on more animations.”

Nelson is a member of the TCCHS Work-Based Learning program, which allows qualified students the opportunity to work in their chosen career fields while still in high school. He is an ATVF apprentice who works at Thomas County Middle School.

“I create videos for the school website and work with its technology class,” Nelson said. “My classes have taught me how to use programs to create animations. The middle school gave me a place to use what I learned in practice.”

His presentation was based on animations and graphics he designed in his work at TCMS.

“I presented a short animation that is used by TCMS TV for their daily news show,” Nelson said. “I used Adobe After Effects to create my project. I used simple text along with particle generators and various color curves.”

TCCHS AVTF instructor Randy Young said there’s no denying technology currently dominates both in education and the whole world, and he feels blessed that the Thomas County Schools system has the tools to be able to prepare its students for this truth.

“This experience for all of these students is merely an extension of what they are doing in our classroom, and I think their being a part of it helps them understand the unique opportunities that are here for them as well as all of their classmates,” Young said of the competition. “The opportunity is absolutely there for any of them, but it is up to them take advantage of it. These students have done that.”

Edwards said learning about technology “makes it less confusing” and his confidence in using tech has increased through his efforts.

“Technology classes give students real world experience and skills they can use,” Nelson agrees.

Lewis said he’s “greatly benefitted” from his almost four years in the program.

“This program has helped me learn audio and video production, which will help me fulfill my career goals,” he said. “Competing in this competition has opened my eyes to what we are capable of doing, and through this experience and opportunity we have been given, we can pursue our interests and have a career we’ll enjoy.”