Pomona High School students accepted a rare invitation to visit the advanced gaming studio at the George Lucas Building at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, where they played and tested video games created by third- and fourth-year graduate students. These graduate students will soon pitch and sell their video game ideas and projects to major studios.
The selected Pomona High students were led by the school’s esports team and included members of Yearbook, GATE, and Red Zone News, the school’s morning announcements broadcast team. Students play-tested about 15 of what will be 80 final gaming projects, providing valuable input to graduate student designers and integration specialists.
Each year, about 400 graduate students apply to this prestigious program, which has an acceptance rate of less than 10%. Those admitted go on to work with roughly two dozen of the highest-profile professors in the field.
The Pomona High team was led by Dr. Chester Tadeja and Mr. Justin Philips, who serve as teachers, esports coaches, and STEAM Team Leads for Pomona High School.