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Game Changer: Learning Through Play

Teaching kids through games and gaming!

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Game Changer: Learning Through Play

Game Changer: Learning Through Play

Game Changer: Learning Through Play

Game Changer: Learning Through Play

Game Changer: Learning Through Play

Teaching kids through games and gaming!

Teaching kids through games and gaming!

Teaching kids through games and gaming!

Teaching kids through games and gaming!

Phil Zoshak
Phil Zoshak
Phil Zoshak
Phil Zoshak
1 Campaign |
Orlando, United States
$4,523 USD 84 backers
45% of $10,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

                     

Game Changer is a one-of-a-kind, educational gaming program for middle and high-school students in Orlando, Florida.  

        


Using strategic card games, board games and creative role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons (TM), Magic: The Gathering (TM), Chess, and Risk (TM), we've created an educational curriculum to teach a variety of important educational and life skills to our students. Our after-school workshops and summer camps emphasize language arts, math, problem solving, critical thinking and creativity, with a special focus on self-confidence and interpersonal skills.

Game Changer is an initiative of Page 15, a children's literacy program and nonprofit founded in 2008. With almost 7 years of successful educational and literacy programming under our belt, we are thrilled to offer these unique gaming programs FREE OF CHARGE  to those who need it. But we need your help today! 

Your support will contribute to the sustainability and growth of Game Changer and help us fund our programs for the next two years. The opportunity to reach kids, and motivate them to learn in new and exciting ways is what this is all about!

     

           

As a nonprofit, we are used to doing a lot with a little. Because we are funded in large part by individual donors, we know that when you choose to donate to us, you care about where the money is going. Every dollar you donate to us will go directly to Game Changer programs, including scholarships for students who cannot afford our programs. Our goal for this campaign is to raise $10,000, and we didn’t just pick that number out of a hat. $10,000 will allow us to grow Game Changer from a small program hosting one week-long summer camp, to a year-round gaming initiative serving kids throughout the year. You are embarking on a great adventure with us. If we reach our $10,000 goal;

-  Game Changer will provide our programming FREE OF CHARGE to any student who requires financial help

-  Game Changer will offer year-round programming (including after-school, weekend, and summer programs).

-  Game Changer will recruit former students, and college level “interns” as coaches and mentors for our programs. 

       

 Show your support of Game Changer with this snappy looking Red and White bracelet. Plus, you get the $15 and $10 perks!


       

If you are a gamer, this is the pack for you! be ready for any of your gaming adventures with this super cool, limited edition, play mat, drawn by local Orlando artist Andre Garcia. You will also get the $20, $15, and $10 perks. 


     

Become a Champion, Elite Guard, or Paladin of Game Changer. Each level comes with our Game Changer T-shirt, that will tell everyone you support learning through play! The higher levels come with more cool stuff, so check the perk side bar for more information! You also get the $35, $20, $15, and $10 Perks!

          

           

Gaming is more than just fun for our Founder, Phil Zoshak. Gaming helped him grow academically and personally. Gaming gave Phil a safe haven to be himself and a way to build lasting friendships in a group of like-minded peers. This is exactly what Game Changer hopes to give the youth we serve.   

Game Changer is targeting young men and women trying to find their way through the treacherous and sometimes awkward waters of middle and high school. Game Changer aims to become a hub for any kid who wants to find a community they can belong to.

You can hear more about Phil’s story on his presentation at PechaKucha. [Note: At the time we were calling the program Play 15.] Watch it HERE!

                     

          

We have had years (decades, if you count Phil’s blundering through middle and high school…we don’t) of testing and research conducted to support Game Changer's mission. Our programs include:

2012-2013 After-School gaming program: The program that started it all. We took 6 kids on their first D&D adventure, and had them write out specific scenes using creative prompts. We learned a lot about Game Changer through this program--what worked and what didn't--that allowed us to move forward to the eventual summer camp we did this year. We knew we could expand the program to serve more kids, and we guessed, while D&D already had some great innate educational mechanics, that we could infuse an academic curriculum to make Game Changer a complete program. We were right on both counts. 

2013+2014 Chess tournaments: Partnering with the City of Orlando, and the Parramore Kidz Zone, Game Changer has hosted two successful chess tournaments, serving more than 50 kids from the Parramore neighborhood, one of Orlando’s most economically challenged districts. Over the course of a month, our students learned the ins and outs of kings, checks, and gambits as they built their knowledge and confidence in chess. At the end of the month, we hosted a big chess tournament, and our kids battled it out to crown a new chess champion. 

2014 D&D Creative Writing Camp:
In our inaugural Game Changer summer camp, we served 15 kids through a Dungeons and Dragons (TM) creative writing camp. After creating unique characters and back-stories, our students played through a campaign set in Ancient Greece. After each session, students then retold the adventure from their characters' perspectives in their own Adventure Journals, reinforcing those important creative writing and literacy skills. At the end of the camp, our students received a printed, and professionally bound book of their writing, formed into a complete fantasy story. By the end of the week-long camp, it was clear: our students, most of them having never experienced gaming in any form, loved it! Even better, 100% stated that they enjoyed creative writing, and planned on continuing playing D&D and writing! 

Research: 

"I'm not sure I would have been able to transition from reader to writer so easily if it had not been for gaming." >> A Game a Literary Tutorial, New York Times

"RPGs give you permission to share your creativity in a safe space in a way that few other things can." >> Slaying the Demons of D&D, The Verge dot com

"It seems like a boy game, but it's actually for girls too." >> Documentary proves girls will play D&D with boys, Boingboing dot com.

        

       

Fall 2014 D&D (TM) Creative Writing After-School Program.  
We will be taking our popular D&D creative writing program and plugging it into the Misty Forest Enrichment Center, a community-based organization that offers after-school programs for students K-8 in Downtown Orlando. We aim to serve 20+ kids through this program. Misty Forest is a great partner for Game Changer, and we will be certainly hosting more programs with them in the years to come!

Spring 2015: 3rd Annual Parramore Kidz Zone Chess Tournament.  
Continuing our partnership with PKZ, we plan on doubling the number of kids we serve through this program. We will have multiple chess programs across the recreation centers in Orlando, using our curriculum and teaching methods. This year we will be hosting the tournament not in Page 15's Homework Room, but in the Downtown Recreation Center's gym, giving us a bigger space to host more kids. Our final two kids will have the special treat of playing in a game of human chess. We'll have volunteers and a big space to play, giving our kids a fun and unique experience for the championship match! 

Summer 2015: D&D (TM) Summer Camp at Cool Stuff Games.  

In its second year, we aim to serve 60+ kids in 3 weeks of Game Changer summer camps. Partnering with Cool Stuff Games again, we would have our main story line progress over the weeks, so our students can feel they've left their mark on our game world. The actions and decisions of week 1 campers will affect the campers of week 3, and change the story line. 


We are very lucky to not have to go it alone. Game Changer is an initiative of Page 15, a children’s creative literacy program that serves under the umbrella of the Urban Think Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to enrich Orlando’s cultural landscape by funding and growing educational, creative, and culture building programs. What this means is that we have rock solid support, and our leaders have built trust in our community for the past seven years. We also have the creative and academic know-how to run programs like Game Changer.  

You are also not alone, and will not be funding the entirety of the program. Game Changer is sponsored by Cool Stuff Games and their great gaming community around the world. Cool Stuff provides us with fundraisers and free space to host our programs. Their support has been invaluable to us.

This isn’t to say that we are risk free. If we were to fail in achieving our goal, it would force us to cut or scale down some of the Game Changer programs we intend to offer to the community of kids who need it the most. 

We are reaching out to the the gaming community because you get itand you get us! We need time, and the opportunity to continue to develop our programs and grow Game Changer before we can really set our sights on community partners that have nothing to do with gaming (Trust us, we start mentioning Dungeons and Dragons (TM) and Magic: The Gathering (TM), and their eyes glaze over from confusion). We have a long road ahead of us, but you can make that road a heckuva lot easier with your support today!

                  

     

Share us on social media! And tell your followers why gaming matters to you, and why they should support us! The more we get the word out, the greater the chance of success.

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Choose your Perk

featured

Champion of Game Changer

$50 USD
You are a champion of Game Changer! You'll get to wear our tabard (T-shirt) with pride! As an additional bonus, you will get your name written under the of our website! Plus you'll get to participate in Game Changer polls that help shape details of the program. You will also receive the $35, $20, $15, $10 Perk!
Estimated Shipping
February 2015
18 claimed

The Altruist

$1 USD
Want to support Game Changer, but don't want any perks in return? You'll get the satisfaction of knowing 100% of your donation went to serve kids! You can donate as little as 1 dollar or as much as you want.
5 claimed

Heralding Your Deeds

$10 USD
Your name shall be sung throughout the land. It will appear on our Facebook Page, thanking you for your donation!
4 claimed

A Hero's Tale

$15 USD
Your donation will get you one of the stories our adventure groups wrote in PDF format, along with our $10 Perk. Our students and DMs worked hard on these stories, and are happy to share them with you, our supporter!
Estimated Shipping
December 2014
0 claimed

+1 Bracer of Awesomeness

$20 USD
Ok...it's not actually a bracer, but it's a super cool Game Changer Bracelet. Embossed and painted (Red and White) with our slogan: "Game On!" You will also get the $15 and $ 10 Perk.
Estimated Shipping
February 2015
9 claimed

Adventure Pack

$35 USD
Show your support of Game Changer with our super awesome play mat, sporting original artwork that we will reveal soon! It's safe to say it's going to be awesome. You will also get the $20 $15 and $10 Perks.
Estimated Shipping
February 2015
15 claimed

Elite Guard of Game Changer

$75 USD
Ranking in the elite of Game Changer supporters, you have proven your dedication to the cause of learning through play. You'll receive the board game Conquest of Speros (donated by Cool Stuff Games), a personal thank you from our founder, your name in the "Elite Guard" section of our website. You will also receive the $50, $35, $20, $15, and $10 Perk.
Estimated Shipping
February 2015
5 out of 50 of claimed

Paladin of Game Changer

$100 USD
You truly believe in the cause of learning through play, and are devoted enough to rank among the best of the Game Changer supporters. You will receive a hand-written note of thanks from our founder (and you know, that's going to be sealed with a wax insignia!). You'll get your name under the "Paladin" section of our website. You'll also receive the $75, $50, $35, $20, $15, and $10 Perk.
Estimated Shipping
February 2015
9 out of 50 of claimed

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