So at the end of the day, I went to Ubisoft to meet up with my mentor for the last time. Joe came along too, such that I wouldn’t have to walk by myself.
The greatest thing about winning this scholarship was definitely the mentor program. Chris is such a nice guy, with lots of industry experience, and is completely devoted to helping young people coming into the industry from an education route. I’m certain he’s a person I will keep in touch with! Joe and I thought it would be awesome if IGDA had a mentoring program beyond the GDC scholarship, because it’s such an incredibly helpful opportunity to have a mentor; someone with much more experience than you that you don’t have to worry about impressing, but instead are able to ask questions and come to with stories and concerns.
The first thing I’m doing when I get home is writing my mentor a nice little thank-you card. I imagine that Chris would be the sort of person who would love to bring Ubisoft to the ETC in a similar way that many other game companies do, though his schedule as a producer is so busy that this might not be a possibility. Even still, I feel very grateful that I have this awesome person to go to for advice and help whenever I need it.
It seems Andy wasn’t the only one to catch a cold at the IGDA party. We’re sitting in the airport and the Schell Games crew showed up, towing a few sniffling, coughing, sore-throated members of their own. We’re all on the same red-eye flight back to Pittsburgh, so that’s pretty cool.
In closing, I’m really glad I had the opportunity to come to GDC. It was exhausting, yes, but a fantastic and worthwhile experience that I will not take for granted!