Katherine Townsend

Concentration

Animation

Internships

Animation/Video Intern at Clocky & Game Production Intern at Jam City

Favorite Class

Advanced Seminars in Animation

What is it about your major/area of study that appeals to you? Why does a career in that field matter—what value does it add to the world?

I’ve always valued the field of animation, and I knew I would pursue that direction when heading to college. I’ve found game development is full of many more opportunities than I had even known. While I’ve always valued entertainment—whether that be through film or games—it’s even more clear now how necessary it is to humanity moving forward. Entertainment gets people through hard times and helps make our lives better.

Talk a bit about your classes. What projects, subjects, or experiences have had an impact on you? How does that apply to your field?

In the Game Studio curriculum, our studio classes have had the biggest impact on my understanding of the industry because we were immersed in a real studio environment with team-driven projects. It fostered a sense of community, autonomy, and goal-setting that I hadn’t encountered before. It also allowed me to explore different roles in the studio. It’s also where I was introduced to being a producer, which is what I’m going to do in my career.

Have you had opportunities to apply what you’ve learned in your major to experiences outside the classroom?

For my entire junior year, I worked as a Game Production Intern at Jam City. I’ve been able to bring the documentation and planning skills I’ve learned from my Game Studio classes into a major mobile game development studio. Coming from an interdisciplinary background, I was able to serve the art and narrative teams at work with the previous knowledge of having studied both subjects with my major and minor courses of study.During my internship with Jam City, I served on the production teams of two games: Panda Pop and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. I dove into production for art and animation, while also dabbling in narrative and localization. I handled various tasks and documentation that supported both teams, and took on solo projects that aided the team’s asset archives and reference material that will bring efficiency to future projects. Outside of working and supporting my teams as a Production Intern, I met many great people and made amazing and meaningful connections that I know I’ll keep for the rest of my career.