U.S. Senator Rockefeller to Chair STEM Games Competition

United States Senator Jay Rockefeller will serve as honorary chair for West Virginia's first annual Globaloria Games Competition on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Globaloria is a game development pilot course currently held at 22 West Virginia middle schools, high schools, community colleges and universities. While enrolled in the course, students create and develop original web-based games covering a variety of educational topics. All Globaloria students are invited to submit their creations for the contest. Entries will be judged by a panel of STEM practitioners, policymakers, and game design experts. All contestants will receive a letter of commendation from Senator Rockefeller and the Globaloria WV Board for their efforts. The best overall entry will receive a special grand prize that includes a laptop for all team members. "This competition is an exciting opportunity for students to combine what they’re learning about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the classroom with hands-on web-game development," said Senator Rockefeller. "The students working on this project and learning STEM skills will be the engineers, scientists, and biomedical researchers of the future -- helping West Virginia lead in many areas of technology research and development." Rockefeller continues: "I have worked for years to ensure that our public schools have the hardware and connectivity they need to engage students with innovative broadband applications like Globaloria. I'm so proud of our West Virginia students and I am very excited about being honorary chair of this competition." Globaloria students have until March 19, 2010 to register for the event. Final game submissions are due on May 30th. Winners will be announced on June 10th.