At the end of 2024, I was lucky enough to be accepted as a CYSTEM Scholar. The CYSTEM Program is a six-month fellowship created by Gay Gaming Professionals that is designed to empower graduate students from leading game development universities (University of Southern California, New York University, and Carnegie Mellon University) by providing both financial support and structured professional development.

Through grant funding and mentorship from industry professionals, the program helped me expand my network and attend the Game Developers Conference. I also participated in the 2025 Global Game with students from my cohort. We worked together to create “Perspective” a single-player game made in Unity Editor for Fortnite. This game looks at the theme of “Bubbles” through a societal lens. In the age of social media and a divided political climate, we often find ourselves stuck in curated “social bubbles”. The people in our town, from our schools, and even in our social media algorithms, may all have the same perspective, while another group thinks the exact opposite.

CYSTEM creates a collaborative community where fellows gain the resources, mentorship, and exposure needed to turn their academic work into meaningful real-world impact.