Very concretely, Gearbox Gives revolves mainly around educational actions on the American model of STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. The charitable branch encompasses the various initiatives already launched around the world. For example, Gearbox has been investing in the Longview ISD School District (East Texas) since 2020, supporting half a dozen schools. The establishments concerned benefit from reinforced learning of STEAM subjects from the equivalent of CM1 until the end of high school. If the avowed goal is to train future video game professionals, employable from high school, Gearbox Gives points out that the fundamentals acquired in the course of their program are versatile and can be put to good use in any technological sector. In all, 2,000 students in 6 different establishments have already benefited from this officially permanent program.
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Educational programs Gearbox Gives are not limited to Texas, far from it, starting with the RFK School for the Visual Arts & Humanities in Los Angeles. The 2022-2023 school year has been used to coach teachers, who will be able to apply the Gearbox formula from next year. The American studio wishes to support the student body of the school, very largely made up of ethnic minorities and disadvantaged people, in order to “increase diversity in the industry“. Further afield, in Nairobi, Kenya, Gearbox Gives has been working with the NGO Atamiza since 2018 to develop the local video game industry. The Nairobi Curriculum also serves as stress testing for distance STEAM education, likely to be implemented in other countries.
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