Classroom Coding Meets Sport Boy – Hamilton Faculty

by Dehler Ingham ’27
Might 30, 2025
Research and Discovery
“College students can enter our 101 course, and in the event that they haven’t any expertise, they’re good to go,” Affiliate Professor of Laptop Science Darren Strash defined. “If they’ve numerous expertise, they’re additionally good to go.”
Affiliate Professor of Laptop Science
Faculty Bio
The division has already seen the influence of this overhaul. “Now we have a number of college students now who’ve by no means taken a pc science course earlier than coming to Hamilton. They take 101 and so they understand, wow, that is for me,” Strash added.
As soon as via the introductory programs, the upper-level programs develop into a proving floor for college kids. Nonetheless, the division’s alignment with the liberal arts doesn’t falter. Nowhere is that this extra evident than in Comp Sci 240: Laptop Group and Meeting Language.
 “240 is a basic course the place you learn the way a pc works,” Strash defined. “Nonetheless, writing applications for a text-based terminal — the identical approach you’ll do in your different programs — shouldn’t be all the time motivating for college kids.”
“Now we have a number of college students now who’ve by no means taken a pc science course earlier than coming to Hamilton. They take 101 and so they understand, wow, that is for me.”
The answer? Since fall 2024, college students have been studying programming fundamentals via a really totally different strategy: Nintendo Sport Boys. All through the semester, college students hone meeting language abilities by constructing a completely useful Sport Boy sport with a accomplice.  (Nintendo®, and Sport Boy®, are registered logos owned by Nintendo of America, Inc.)
“Meeting shouldn’t be a straightforward language to study by any means,” stated Jack Kertscher ’26, who constructed a survival sport referred to as Crypt. “It was actually tough, however I discovered that doing it in a self-driven approach was actually nice.”
College students transfer step-by-step via the sport growth course of: first studying to show their graphics, then getting their characters to maneuver, and at last constructing sport targets and interactions. “We ended up with a extremely cool product on the finish, which was a sport that we might showcase,” Kertscher stated. With a background in robotics, Kertscher moved via the course as a really technical, hands-on learner. However the great thing about 240 is that every one kinds of learners can succeed.
For Jules Henderson ’25, a pc science and theatre double main, the artistic prospects had been limitless. “I’m a way more visible learner than a conceptual learner,” she stated. “I like to code, however I actually like to code creatively.” Henderson and her accomplice divided and conquered: Henderson targeted on her sport’s interactive graphics whereas her accomplice targeted on its technical particulars.
“I used to be positively challenged technically, however I used to be nonetheless being stimulated creatively,” she recalled. Henderson attributes this artistic freedom to Strash. “Professor Strash was actually pretty in that he permits you to go free-range on the artistic aspect, which drives you to tackle greater and more durable initiatives.”
“Professor Strash was actually pretty in that he permits you to go free-range on the artistic aspect, which drives you to tackle greater and more durable initiatives.”
Henderson went the additional mile by changing her sport into Sport Boy Coloration. She wasn’t required to take action however was so invested in her sport that she needed to. “It took a number of work, however I used to be simply so enthusiastic about it. I needed to spend hours and hours outdoors of sophistication to complete it.”
The artistic nature of the course was on full show when college students introduced their video games to the campus group this spring. There have been music video games, puzzle video games, survival video games, thriller video games, the record went on. Watching his college students enthusiastically share their video games with one another, Strash couldn’t have been extra proud.
“It makes me very glad,” he stated. “There’s a possibility for college kids of all mindsets to get so much out of the category. It’s very emblematic of the training surroundings that Hamilton affords.” 
Congratulations 2024-25 Class & Charter Day Student Awardees 
At Hamilton’s annual Class & Constitution Day convocation on Might 13, 142 college students had been honored with tutorial prizes and scholarships, and school instructing award recipients had been acknowledged. Delbert “Del” Gonzales ’25 was awarded the James Soper Merrill Prize, and Mohammad “Isa” Khan ’26 obtained the Fillius Drown Prize Scholarship. Affiliate Professor of Philosophy Justin Clark served because the keynote speaker.
Three Awarded Gilman Scholarships 
Three Hamilton college students —Gabrielle (Gaby) Guerra ’27, Tzu Han (Annie) Huang ’27, and Darian Torres ’27 — will research overseas throughout the subsequent 12 months, due to help from Benjamin A. Gilman Worldwide Scholarships.
Assist us present an accessible schooling, provide progressive assets and applications, and foster mental exploration.
© 2025 Hamilton Faculty. All Rights Reserved.

source