How can we use game design tournaments and educational programs to equip the next generation with creative and technical skills?

Through the New England Institute of Technology, we launched a high school game design tournament across Rhode Island. Making a game is the ultimate multidisciplinary learning experience because it teaches programming, digital art, narrative writing, audio engineering, and project management simultaneously. Instead of designing violent shooters, the high school students created deeply moving games focused on overcoming mental health obstacles, cleaning up ecological disaster zones, and easing social isolation. When you give young people creative tools and mentorship, they naturally build systems that heal.