underprivileged high school students a career path in tech and STEM . This gives SMU Guildhall ’ s students a chance to coach and mentor high school students while educating kids and their parents on potential careers in game development . These aspiring developers show the games they built to students and faculty for advice and encouragement . By supporting these programs and exposing these STEM students to the benefits of our program , GameLab has become known as an integral step leading to a career in video game development .
• SMU Guildhall has a continued partnership with Dallas ISD and the Dallas County Community College District ( DCCCD ) to help with creating new opportunities for DISD students to earn free and transferable college credit before they graduate high school . As a DISD Collegiate Academy partner , SMU Guildhall works with students enrolled in the Gaming Pathway at Dr . Emmett J . Conrad High School . The district launched eight collegiate academies , one of which is the first Pathways to Technology Early College High School ( P-TECH ) in the state of Texas , at the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year . Participating schools provide the opportunity for high school students to : earn up to an Associate of Applied Science degree tuition-free while in high school ; earn up to 60 hours of tuition-free college credit ( eliminating thousands of dollars in tuition ); start college at a four-year university having completed two years of academic credit work , thereby earning a four-year degree in less time ; enter the job market workforce-ready with the skills to succeed ; and become familiar with the effort needed to successfully complete college-level coursework . The collegiate academies are designed to serve incoming ninth-grade students who want to attend college , will be firstgeneration college students , and have been historically underrepresented in higher education . Each collegiate academy accepts 100-125 students each year as incoming freshmen , who then move together as a cohort as they progress through their high school years . The Gaming Pathway ’ s first cohort was 55 % female , which is a perfect complement for the Guildhall ’ s and SMU ’ s endeavors to increase gender diversity in game development and other STEM fields .
• GameLab continues to work with industry partners in a variety of ways . We host local partners — such as Gearbox , PeopleFun , and Bethesda Dallas — at meet-and-greet mixers with industry vets and our students , and we work with partners like Sony Santa Monica and Rockstar Games on sessions where teams present their games and receive feedback from industry professionals . This gives studios a chance to get to know our students early and has helped the students form networking relationships , making job interviews more impactful than ever . These relationships also allow us to integrate on-site visits to local studios into our production and Capstone curriculum . Additionally , studios and industry professionals serve as student mentors in our Mentorship Program . Our mentorship program connects second-year students with mentors including Guildhall alumni and our wide industry network . This initiative carefully assigns each participating student with a developer from their target career-path . Over the course of the academic year , students receive one-on-one guidance concerning their portfolio , application materials , and professional goals . As a result , students approach graduation better prepared to secure and master their entrance into the industry . As of 2020 , a record 34 companies were participating in the mentorship program , including Blizzard Entertainment , Sony PlayStation , Gearbox Software , Certain Affinity , High Moon Studios , id Software , Naughty Dog , and Microsoft ( 343
9