1250+ mile road trip and I never left Montana. You know you live in a really big state when you can drive the distance of Chicago to Washington DC and back and never cross into another state. That is game play in Big Sky Country.

GEAR UP West

It was an honor to keynote the GEAR UP West conference. GEAR UP stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs and is a hallmark of the US Department of Education’s commitment to widening participation in post-secondary education among lower-income students, many of who are first in their family to attend college (i.e., first generation college students). For many students, the GEAR UP contact in their high school is the person who helps them realize that they are “college material”, assists them in understanding how their strengths and interests connect to majors and careers, and advises them in applying for college admission AND financial aid.

Sharing the power of using games to advance the college readiness conversation with this amazing group of educators was an absolute thrill.

My take-away message was this: Engage students in the college readiness conversation on their terms.

What are students’ terms, you ask? According to the Pew Foundation, more than 75% of teenagers play games. Thus, it makes sense to harness the power of play as the place to host the college readiness conversation. Success Prints Crash Course® does just that.

There are no time management lectures. Instead, time management strategy is central to the game. Players are challenged to manage their time strategically across competing demands with the goal of doing well academically, connecting socially, handling stress and life’s unforeseen events, and earning enough money to pay tuition and other expenses. Just like real college.

The difference? Success Prints Crash Course® is a game. Players test their strategy for college success before tuition is paid, a lease signed, and the consequences are real. It’s the perfect way to learn; there is no loss in losing. It’s simply game over; play again. The win is in the learning — learning about campus resources, learning that not all friends will support your dreams and goals, learning that if you don’t spend time on your assignment, you are not going to earn any GPA.

Not able to attend the conference but want to experience the presentations? Check out my keynote, the slides, and other presentations here: https://mus.edu/gearup/guwest2021.html

Small School Tour

From the GEAR UP West conference, I headed out on the road for game play in small schools across Montana’s most northern highway, Hwy 2 (aka the Hi-Line). I had the great pleasure of playing Success Prints Crash Course® in schools where we had prototyped and play-tested years ago.

Before manufacture. Before an official game board. Before the game had a name. Coming back to Opheim High School (population 10 students in grades 9-12) was like going home.

Playing with these students was awesome. I asked what they learned as a result of game play and they shared how helpful it was to learn about the campus resources in the center of the game board. High school students are told how tough college assignments are but they may not know of the many academic support offices like the Writing Center and the Math Lab that exist to help them complete their assignments.

The students at Opheim got the bug for a bit of friendly competition and challenged the students in the nearby high school (Scobey High School, 45 miles away) to see which school could achieve the highest score. Now that both groups have had a chance to practice their strategy, the competition is set to commence in mid-December. I am excited for this head-to-head game play and can’t wait to see which school will be crowned the winner!

From Scobey, I headed to the Fort Peck Reservation, home of the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes, where I played with students in three high schools. A grant from the Montana State University Outreach & Engagement Council supported a collaboration with students from Ft. Peck Community College and a local high school to create a culturally-responsive expansion pack of the Success Prints Crash Course® cards. The community college students wrote the card text. The student artist sketched the artwork and a MSU art student drafted and prepared the cards for printing and manufacture.

I recall a student saying, “you need a card about taking a family member to the doctor. This is part of real life.” No doubt. The trip to Billings, the nearest comprehensive hospital and clinic is a 10 hour round trip from the reservation. Taking care of this kind of family need has implications on a student’s ability to go to class. It takes time out of their day and may result in missing class.

Roxann Smith, Director of the Chante Project, a college access program affiliated with Ft. Peck Community College shared,

The CrashCourse game is a real-world scenario in a game format for students to learn first hand how "Life Happens" at college campuses. The expansion pack has a set of culturally designed cards that native students can relate to and help to understand how when "Life Happens" it affects their success at college. Playing the game will help students to become better at problem solving and making plans for college.

This was the first time I had played with the expansion pack shuffled into the deck. I was stoked to see the students’ response.

Something magical happened when the students turned over powwow as the first event. They saw themselves. Their culture was part of this game. At another high school, the Dakota Language assignment was dealt to one of the teams. Immediately, without missing a beat, the young woman who received the assignment responded in Dakota. Further down the road, at a high school off the reservation, students loved the Basketball Tournament event — the card resonated with the students; this is serious basketball country.

It was such a treat to play with these students in person. Although I enjoy playing games, I LOVE when students connect the game play experience to life. I am grateful for the teacher who gets in touch with me after game play to let me know how it went over with the students. This quote from Mary Machart from Culbertson High School says it all:

Watching my students engage in this game empowered me to make this game a part of my curriculum EVERY YEAR!! As if that wasn't enough, watching all of them learning to problem solve while playing a game-when Tricia asked how my students liked it and they said they loved it-I almost wanted to cry! Not that often do I get that reaction!!

in closing

I created Success Prints Crash Course® with a team of student game developers to help students see themselves as college material, to learn higher education’s “hidden curriculum”, to practice their strategy for college success. Games give people a chance to play test, role play, and try out their strategy before the consequences are real.

Success Prints Crash Course® invites players to learn what college is like — the good (your professor gives extra credit), the bad (you got a ticket for parking in the wrong lot), the ugly (you slipped and sustained a concussion), and the awesome (you won a scholarship!).

1250+ road miles later and I am grateful to have heard the buzz of a classroom when students were engaged in play. It was a tremendous journey. I can’t wait to do it again.

I’d really like to hear about your game play experience. Please leave a comment and share.

Dr. Tricia Seifert is founder and CEO of Success Prints, LLC. She co-developed the game Success Prints Crash Course® with a team of student game designers and jokes the game represents 20 years of her research studying students’ transition to college in a box. Learn more about the game here or at: www.successprints.shop