Guthrie student brings video game design dreams to life in Tokyo

STILLWATER, Okla. – Andrea Barrett couldn’t have designed a better summer.

As a student in the Digital Media program at Meridian Technology Center Andrea has used programs such as InDesign, Maya and After Effects to transfer her artistic talent from the printed page to the computer screen. But it was her mom’s passion for education that took everything to the next dimension.

Following her graduation from high school in May Andrea and her mom Kim took a trip to Tokyo to get an inside look at the Japanese video game industry – the career field that Andrea hopes to work in one day.

The idea for the celebratory trip came about several years ago when Kim was named Teacher of the Year for Guthrie Public Schools. The recognition came with the title and a $1,000 cash prize.

“When I found out that there was money associated with the award I told Andrea that I would invest the money and that when she graduated high school we’d use that money for a trip,” she said. “Two years later I was fortunate enough to win again. I kept investing and over the years things really paid off.”

While Kim had dreams of spending time with her daughter in Paris, Andrea had other ideas.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Japan,” she said. “I know this wasn’t where my mom would have picked to visit, but I wasn’t about to pass up my chance to go.”

Kim said that a big part of the fun took place before they ever left home. The two spent countless hours online researching companies and sending emails to executives and setting up industry tours. Many of their planned industry visits ended up being showroom or museum visits and not time with illustrators or designers, as they had anticipated. Rather than spend time focusing on what wasn’t going to happen, the duo decided to make the best of the situation and took in everything they could while they were there.

Highlights of their trip include visiting the SONY showroom and museum; Godzilla’s 4D Experience; Sunshine City’s Mega Tokyo Pokémon Center; Akihabara, Tokyo’s electric and anime district; J-World, an anime indoors theme park, and Tokyo Disney.

“It was a trip to explore the light at the end of the tunnel for Andrea,” Kim said. “We made sure to visit some of the biggest brands out there, but we also stopped to see what was happening on the smaller scale with a couple of up-and-coming companies. I wanted her to see where her training can lead if she continues down this path. Ultimately I wanted her to come back from this trip realizing that it’s possible to make a living doing what you love.”

Andrea has returned to the Digital Media program this semester to complete additional training. Following her time at Meridian she plans to continue her education at Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology.

Meridian Technology Center is a career and technology training center located in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The center has more than 70 career majors and offers a wide variety of evening personal and professional development courses and certifications for many diverse career fields. Meridian also offers services to businesses in need of training and development. Each year approximately 11,000 students come to Meridian from all areas of business and industry.

For more information or to enroll visit www.meridiantech.edu or contact a career counselor by phone at (405) 377-3333 or toll-free at (888) 607-2509.