b'Eyesight Technologies team L to R: Thomas Culhane (programmer and game designer) Gabriel Roth(musical composer), Wesley Sappington (founder and leader, programmer), Will Kliment (artist),Olivia Morgan (writer), Bonnie Garcia (musical composer), and Sky Garcia (artist).Solving aConundrumA CHS student collaboration creates a video-game hitBY SARA COURTNEYW henWesleySapping- his very own video game, but technically he was stillschoolversionofLinkedIn:hisschoollibrary.I ton got the idea to cre- just a kid at Columbia High School. A ninth graderrememberjustgoinguptopeopleinthelibrary ateavideogame,hewith a knack for coding and a penchant for dream- that I heard had skills, he says, recalling how stu-did what any buddingingbig,Sappingtonhadstartedprogrammingindents would share recommendations. Hey, did you CEOwoulddo:Hemiddle school when the idea to create a video gameknow Sky could do this? Hey, did you know Thomas tappedintohislocalfirst came to him. He quickly adopted a fake it tillcould do this? And then I was just running up to networkinhissearchyou make it philosophy as he worked towards im- those people afterwards, essentially cold calls, that for the best and the brightest, seeking out the newestproving his coding skills. kind of thing. Before long, he had assembled a wide talent that would be up for the challenge and suitedA natural leader, Sappington just needed to in- range of fellow high school students to take on the for the various roles.spirefellowrenegadegamerslikehimself.Hesetchallenge, a sort of Goonies for gamers. He called Ofcourse,Sappingtonfacedanunusualchal- about pulling together a talented team: coders, writ- his company Eyesight Technologies. lenge: He may have harbored ambitions of releasingers, composers, and artists. He turned to the highAmong the fellow Columbia High School stu-14/ matters magazine / school 2021'