Hannah J. Wyman: Future Microsoft CEO? Yes.



Bask in your victory,intrepid geekess!

meh...its a WYSIWYG game editor. I was creating webpages back in the old days of HTML and FrontPage before 5th grade.

RightWingNutjob: meh...its a WYSIWYG game editor. I was creating webpages back in the old days of HTML and FrontPage before 5th grade.

That's nice. This is the kind of thing I did at 8 or 10:

Now all she has to do is call it "indie" and all the mainstream journalism sites will give it 9-out-of-10.

valar_morghulis: SultanofSchwing: Hello Fark, I'm a 24 year old female and I'm currently working on a science based dragon mmo what are your thoughts?

Tits or GTFO

SultanofSchwing: Hello Fark, I'm a 24 year old female and I'm currently working on a science based dragon mmo what are your thoughts?

Looking good! (new window)

39

Leominster fifth-grader meets Obama
LEOMINSTER STUDENT SHARES SCHOOL PROJECT

By Paula J. Owen TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

LEOMINSTER - When 11-year-old Hannah J. Wyman started designing a video game that would teach people about environmental pollution, she had no idea she would be discussing her idea face-to-face with President Barack Obama this week.

Hannah programmed her game "Toxic" using Microsoft's Kodu software. Her technology teacher, Maria D. Marien at St. Anna Catholic School, chose her and two other students interested in programming at the school to compete in Microsoft's first-ever U.S. Kodu Cup competition last year.

Out of thousands of children competing nationally, Hannah won the grand prize and 10-year-old David Gardiner, who also attends St. Anna, won the first prize in their age group.

And, as exciting as winning top place and taking a trip to New York City last year paid for by Microsoft, Hannah was still in for the biggest surprise of her life.

When her mother, Amy J. Wyman, arrived home from work Jan. 30, she checked her voicemails.

"I retrieved my voicemails when I got home and Mike (from Microsoft) left a message that said there was a wonderful opportunity for Hannah that was time sensitive and to please return his phone call," said Mrs. Wyman. "I called him back and he said Hannah was invited to a science fair with the president of the United States. 'You're going to the White House.' I was mouthing it to her while I was on the phone with him. She said, 'No way! Are you kidding?' "

Hannah was chosen for "Toxic" as one of 100 students nationally to participate in the 2012 White House Science Fair and among the 30 that would get to present their projects to President Obama on Tuesday. She was the only student from Massachusetts to participate in the science fair and she and another 11-year-old at the science fair were the youngest.

St. Anna Principal Danielle J. Colvert said at first, the Wyman family had to keep it quiet.

"Amy called me on Thursday and said Hannah would be out of school Monday and Tuesday and all she was allowed to say was that she would be in the Washington area," said Ms. Colvert. "Then, Friday she came in to tell us she was going to the White House Science Fair because of the Kodu competition. It was unbelievable."

Ms. Colvert said the whole school got involved and watched live streaming video on the White House's website Tuesday in all the classrooms in the hopes the students would get a glimpse of their classmate participating in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"The projects were set up in four different rooms, but she was not in the room with the live video," said Ms. Colvert. "The whole school shared in it. The students all knew she was there and felt part of it."

Hannah won $5,000 in prize money for the school and it was used to buy 10 new iPads, she said.

Ms. Marien said she knew all along Hannah and David would win the Kodu Cup competition.

"I'm extremely proud," she said. "I knew we would be able to make it. It took us a long time to finally put all the ideas together to make it work. I believe education should not be limited to classroom experience. Part of this is the kids are learning how to apply what they have learned in the classroom out in the world."

Hannah said she felt a mixture of nervousness and excitement when she met the president.

"I didn't find out until a week before I had to go," she said, in her navy blue and white uniform at the small, private parochial school. "I didn't know what to do. It took a second for it to all to sink in."

She said it felt a "little weird" being the youngest kid at the science fair.

Her parents were not allowed into the presentation area in the White House where she met President Obama.

"I remember how tall he was - I had to look up when I was talking to him," she said. "He asked me where I was from and how old I was and then he said he was surprised I was only in fifth grade and made the game. I played it for him because he wanted to see how it worked. He was surprised. It looked really fun. He didn't want to play it, though. He didn't know how to and didn't want to mess up. When he saw it, he said, 'Wait - you're in fifth grade and you made this game? Yeesh!' "

She said the whole experience seems like a blur. All her friends at school, she said, are asking her about meeting the president.

Ironically, Hannah's brother Tyler F. Cucchi, 21, is majoring in computer science in college. He is learning to program in more complicated languages, but said the Kodu software is a great interface that allows children to program their own games.

"When I found out she won, I thought it was really cool," said Mr. Cucchi. "She had asked me for help, but I didn't get a chance because it was around finals. She made a video on YouTube that walks you through what the game is like. I wasn't expecting her to win, but whenever Hannah puts her mind to something, she can do it."

Hannah said she enjoyed teasing her brother in a nice way that she was going to the White House Science Fair for her video game.

"I got home from work and she told me she was going to the White House and was going to meet Obama and was telling me the name of Obama's dog," said Mr. Cucchi. "I showed my friends the video she made on YouTube and all the college kids are sitting here writing programs to do bank accounts and simple apps for Android phones, and she just made a full game. My friends asked, 'What have you done?' and I said I just made a sweet game of tic-tac-toe."

Hannah is working on another game with three of her classmates to enter in this year's Kodu Cup competition in the group category.

When she gets older, she said she wants to combine her love of dance with computer software designing.

"I want to design games that are fun and teach kids something," she said. "Like instead of just playing a game, kids will also learn something out of it."

A free download of Hannah's game "Toxic" is available at www.kodugamelab.com.

If this kind of stuff gets more girls interested in hard sciences I think it's a win for everyone.