By Design and Hard Work

Heather Conover ’11

Heather Conover Speaks Well of Champlain

Heather Conover ’11 is a game designer with almost three years of game development experience who received her bachelor of science degree in Electronic Design and Interactive Development from Champlain College in May. Although graduation marks the end of her undergraduate time at Champlain, as with so many others who crossed the stage on May 7, it begins a new chapter in her story.

To this ambitious game designer, it seems like only yesterday when she arrived from Sharon, Massachusetts, and first set foot on campus in Burlington.

From almost Day One, Conover’s future began to crystallize. “I applied for a position in Champlain’s Emergent Media Center (EMC),” she recalls. “But I really thought, ’Why would they hire me?’ — I was a freshman without much game design experience.” However, Conover did land the EMC position. “I started working that July,” she says, “and then they said: ’By the way, we are sending you to South Africa.’”

She travelled with 15 other Champlainers to Cape Town, South Africa, as part of the research team working on a joint project between Champlain’s EMC and the United Nations that addressed the issue of violence against women. “Going to South Africa for 10 days changed my life,” says Conover.

As a sophomore, she was chosen to present at the Montreal Game Summit about social impact games. “It was scary,” she recalls. “I was going to this conference and there were creative directors of companies I would potentially want to work for sitting in the room listening to me.”

That experience helped prepare her for the next challenge—speaking at the United Nations presenting the EMC game project. “I now feel very confident speaking in front of people,” Conover enthuses. “I figure if I’ve spoken in front of the U.N. to an international audience, I can speak in front 
of anybody.”

She also started the Women in Technology Club to encourage young women to enter the tech arena traditionally dominated by men. She finished up as president of the 16-member growing club this year.

As a junior studying abroad in Montreal, she was hired by Fit Brain to help develop an interactive learning game for Reader’s Digest. The vice president of the Vancouver-based company read one of her blog postings on the topic of serious game development, and he contacted her. “It was the best paying job I’ve ever had,” says Conover, who worked with the company via Skype.
That led to receiving the “Most Promising Non-Senior” Scholarship, enabling her to go to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco with five seniors from Champlain. “I introduced myself to people I didn’t know,” she laughs. “That’s how I ended up with an internship at 38 Studios—a video game company in Massachusetts where some of the most massive multiplayer online games have been developed. It was really great that happened for me because any opportunity in the industry that happens to one of us at Champlain
is beneficial to all of us.”

At this April’s Communication & Creative Media (CCM) Division Honors Night, Conover was among seven seniors who were presented awards from the Emergent Media Center. She earned the Interstellar Award for exceptional achievement in all areas.

“I really feel confident, I have done so many interesting things and met so many people that I have made a name for myself; I want to use that to help Champlain and give back to the people who really deserve it - there are so many talented people at this school.”

Although getting a job can be stressful, graduating seniors at Champlain College are prepared. “It’s exciting,” she says, looking ahead to life after Champlain. “I’ve been very fortunate to meet people from game design companies across the country and to learn firsthand where
the industry is going.”

And with her confidence, a website to showcase her work, an impressive resume, and the confidence to succeed, she knows where she is going.

Read more about Heather’s Champlain Experience.