News

On Thursday (26 September) approximately 72 high school students and ten teachers from throughout Grand Cayman attended the second in series of video game development workshops that were put on last week by Gamers’ Bay Cayman, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports, Agriculture & Lands (MEYSAL) and Youth Services Unit (YSU).

The workshop that was held at the John Gray High School (JGHS) Gymnasium under the theme ‘Education, Technology & Careers in the Gaming Industry’ also provided students with knowledge on how to create guided virtual and augmented reality tours.

Dr Joshua Kanies of the Art Institute of Tampa was the workshop facilitator. Students also had the chance to interact with popular YouTuber TmarTn as well as YouTube influencers Driftor, Chelsea Kreiner and Cosplayer Carrington.   

 “Technology is at the heart of what we do on a day-to-day basis. Learning how to use technology effectively will better equip our youth for the jobs of tomorrow and make them more competitive in an increasingly interconnected world,” declared Mr David Wight MLA, Temporary Minister for MEYSAL.

Mr Wight echoed these sentiments as he presented opening remarks on behalf of Minister O’Connor-Connolly, who was away on official business.

Acting Head of the YSU, James Myles outlined the workshop’s objectives. “The overall objective of the workshop is to have faculty and students understand the broader usage of Virtual Reality and Augmented reality and to give them tangible and practical working knowledge of Virtual Reality applications which they can use on their own or within the classroom by creating their own virtual reality tours. We hope that each group of students will be able to take the knowledge that they have gained from this workshop and go back to their schools or classrooms and create their own VR tours from our content-rich environment in our beautiful island home.”

Co-founder of NetGeekz Media and Gamers Bay Cayman Lance Jefferson expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to partner with the MEYSAL and YSU for a second time. “Our mission at Gamers’ Bay Cayman is to open up gateways of opportunity in the gaming industry for locals and youth.  We are thrilled at the Ministry’s and Youth Services Unit support for this initiative.”

The first workshop in the series was held at the Layman E Scott High School in Cayman Brac on Monday, 23 September.

For information on the Gamers Bay educational workshops and technology convention, please visit www.gamersbaycayman.com.