Speaker returns to CLHS banquet -- and this time he knows why

by Marianne Gasaway

Kyle Kern vividly remembers sitting at the Clear Lake High School Academic Excellence Banquet 14-years ago.  It should have been a great night, as he and other top students in his class were celebrated before they would be embarking on new challenges and adventures.  What it was, for Kyle, was frightening.

“I felt so out of place.  I was near the end of high school and I had no idea what I wanted to do.  I kept thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’”

Sunday, Kern will return to the Academic Excellence Banquet.  This time, he knows exactly why he’s there.  He plans to share a message of perseverance, patience and passion with students.

Like the majority of his classmates at the 2004 Academic Excellence Banquet, Kern ultimately decided to go to college.  He chose the University of Northern Iowa, not so much for its curriculum, but because his father had once taken him there for a computer science test, which he recalls went poorly.  He enrolled with the idea of becoming an English teacher, like that of his high school mentor, Tony Kockler, but then figured out the field wasn’t for him.

“I was a little bit lost and decided to quit school,” he said.

He recalls going into a Navy recruiter’s office, thinking military service might provide him with a direction for his future.

“When the recruiter got up to go to the bathroom, I left,” he said.

For a couple of years he installed satellite television systems in the Cedar Falls, Iowa area, but eventually came home to Clear Lake and joined his father, Tom, in the chimney sweeping business.

One day, while 40-feet up on a rooftop, he decided he wasn’t doing what he wanted to do with his life.

“I went home to my wife, Amy, and said ‘let’s go.’  She said, ‘What do you want to do?’ And I said video games.”

It was a eureka moment that has sent Kern on a path of personal satisfaction, as

[wlm_nonmember]To read more of this article, please login or sign up for our E-Edition[/wlm_nonmember][wlm_ismember]

well as professional success.

“I have been a gamer all of my life, but I got away from playing and more interested in finding out how they tick,” he said.  He quickly researched the education he would need to pursue a technical career and within two or three weeks he and Amy made plans to go to Utah so that he could enroll in the University of Utah— which he notes had a $5,000 tuition, compared to the $40,000 price tag at the University of Southern California, the other school which came highly recommended through his research.

Although excited to feel that he was finally on the verge of pursuing a career he would love, Kern was met with some setbacks.

“I found out I needed to have had calculus and I had never taken it.  Based on a pre-test, he was advised not to consider taking a summer calculus course, but did it anyway.

“I thought if this was what I have to do to get where I want to be, I can do it,” he said, adding that he basically made learning math his fulltime job, eight hours a day, during the months of May and June.  “I eventually got an A after failing the first exam.”

With calculus added to his educational resume, he and Amy set off to Utah.  He attended a Salt Lake City community college his first year, then transferred to the University of Utah, the number one ranked school for his field, and graduated in three years at the top of his class.

A game he developed as a senior in college, known as MelterMan, was chosen as a finalist in the E3 Gaming Expo, which Kern describes as the Academy Awards of the gaming industry. The honor, added to his academic prowess, caught the eye of Rockstar Games, from San Diego, Calif.  Rock Star is a huge company which employs more than 1,000 people across the globe.  After spending one and one-half years with the company Kern wanted to try something smaller and joined Penrose Studios, a small San Francisco start-up.  He is still with the company and says he continues to see new opportunities in the growing industry.

“With Rock Star, there are several hundred people working on a title.  I like something smaller, like the five or six-person team I’m on at Penrose,” he explained.

Team members bring different skills to the table for game development, such as artists who create 3-D models, engineers to work on the game engine, game scripters and designers, writers and those producing sound effects.  Kern is a designer who creates concepts and then balances the mechanics.  He calls those mechanics — making characters, jump, pick up objects, shoot, change clothes or color, for example, his passion.  He uses his degree in computer science/entertainment arts to do programming for the games.

“I don’t regret that I didn’t jump into this field right away,” said Kern.  “The main thing is that you ultimately find your passion and follow that.  It may take some twists and turns.  It’s okay if you don’t know what you want to do.  When Mrs. (Sandy) Christ asked me to speak at the Academic Excellence Banquet, I didn’t think I would necessarily have anything to say.  But she seemed to think I do.”

There’s a good chance at least one of the 13 seniors sitting at Sunday’s banquet will be wondering ‘What am I doing here?’  There’s also a likelihood that others will think they absolutely know their future.

“Even if you believe you know, I would recommend evaluating your situation in two years and being true to yourself.  Ask yourself, ‘Is this what I really want?’  I’m not saying it’s easy, but you’re not stuck.  Take a chance.  Your passion can be a moving target.  Follow it.”

A special section featuring the seniors and their mentors honored at this year’s Clear Lake High School Academic Excellence Banquet appears in this edition of the Mirror-Reporter.

[/wlm_ismember]