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May 24, 2021

Game & Simulation Art major Shane Moore has found lasting friendships and a path to a creative future through SSU's program. Moore will graduate from Shawnee State University in May. He has learned valuable skills while being in the program while studying away from home and will miss welcoming campus community, and all the friends that he has made.

portrait Shane Moore in front of computer screen

Playing video games when he was younger, along with friends who introduced him to game design, convinced Moore pursue the Game & Simulation arts major.

“I initially had no college desire, but after a few friends introduced me to game design, I was in love with it,” Moore said. “After my guidance counselor learned about my interest, he recommended Shawnee State because they have one of the best programs in the nation.”

Shawnee State has been named in the top 10 best gaming schools by the Princeton Review for 11 consecutive years. 

“It seemed like a smaller college would mean that the learning environment was going to be more personal compared to a big school, and this was a very attractive aspect,” Moore said. “Being so close to home and the personal aspect convinced me to choose Shawnee State.”

The Game & Simulations Arts major helped Moore improve his artistic skills and will help him as he is looking to start his professional career.

“This major has helped develop the ability to take what’s in my mind, and to create an actual end product out of that,” he said. “This will help me in my career as I look to make indie games, and not work for a boss or actual company.”

From a personal standpoint, studying away from home and being in such a challenging major has helped Moore learn some valuable skills.

“I learned how to work with failure,” Moore said. “When I first started out, I was making a lot of mistakes and I was afraid my artwork was not good enough. This led me to postpone my work and not want to work on it.

“After my artistic skills got better, and after I learned the right way to do things, I got more comfortable in the program and this improved the quality of my work.”

Moore has enjoyed life on campus a lot, and this is something that he will miss the most after he graduates.

“My most favorite thing about Shawnee is all of the friends that I have made, it made me realize that there are a lot of good people in this world,” he said.

“Not being able to attend sports events and physically go to class because of COVID, made me realize that these were things that I really enjoyed while being here.”

Shawnee State University will always be a special place for Moore as he has so many good memories about his “second home”.

“The small community is what makes Shawnee so special to me,” Moore said. “Because everyone is so close you get to meet a lot of new people. I can walk into Kroger at any given time and see a handful of people that I know. I like that a lot.”

Moore did not expect to graduate and was thus not too focused in his first few years. After a lot of determination, hard work and support from his friends, Moore is finishing up his degree this semester.