A Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) Simulation and Game Development (SGD) student and two members of the College’s faculty have advanced to the world finals of Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, a global competition focused on developing solutions to real world problems. Nick Klingensmith, a part-time instructor at CPCC and SGD graduate; Danny Helms, a CPCC student; and Farhad Javidi, chair of the CPCC Simulation and Game Development Department, comprise CPCC’s team, “SGD Monkeys.” CPCC’s team is one of only six game development teams advancing to the final round of competition, which will take place in Cairo, Egypt July 3-7.

Open to students from around the world, the Imagine Cup draws more than 300,000 students from 100 countries each year. The contest spans a year, beginning with local, regional and online contests. Winners at this level compete in the global finals held in a different location every year. Now in its seventh year, the Imagine Cup encourages young people to apply their imagination, passion and creativity to technology innovations that tackle the toughest challenges facing the world today. 

“The Imagine Cup is the Olympics of the game development industry,” said Javidi. “It provides an opportunity for students who've always enjoyed playing games to create their own game and contribute to changing the global community in a new and innovative way. The competition is a great opportunity for students to advance their careers, as either game developers or entrepreneurs in the game business.”

CPCC’s game, “New World Africa,” simulates the use of modern technologies within a Third World country. The primary objective of the game is to improve the overall health, education, environment and prosperity of the player’s country by 100 percent.

"The Imagine Cup challenges the brightest students from around the globe to use Microsoft technology to solve our biggest challenges such as starvation, disease and environmental shifts,” said Cy Khormaee, academic relations manager for Microsoft Corporation. “The problems seem overwhelming but the answers are all around us in thousands of ideas that happen every day – from a few lines of code to a simple video game that can teach the world a lesson. Technology can be the force that makes a difference in the world."

To learn more about CPCC’s Simulation and Game Development program, please visit www.cpcc.edu/sgd. To view the video trailer of CPCC’s “New World Africa” game, go to http://www.javidi.com/nwa.wmv.

Central Piedmont Community College is the largest community college in North Carolina, offering close to 300 degree and certification programs, customized corporate training, market-focused continuing education, and special interest classes. CPCC is academically, financially and geographically accessible to all citizens of Mecklenburg County. In 2002, the National Alliance of Business named CPCC the Community College of the Year for its response to the workforce and technology needs of local employers and job seekers through innovative educational and training strategies.

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This release prepared by Mallory Benz, 704.330.6613. An archive of CPCC news releases is at http://www.cpcc.edu/college-news.