My students will email members in the game industry to get advice on their designs or clarifications on tutorials they find and they usually copy me in the email. It is not unusual for me to receive these emails. On Thursday, I was a little surprised at the email that a student copied me on. The student emailed the district’s chief technology officer (CTO) to request that a game engine get unblocked at our school so that his group can complete their senior capstone project.

This is a site that I have tried to get unfiltered through the normal channels with no progress. To be fair, teachers are submitting sites on a daily basis that should be unblocked that would benefit more students than this one site that would benefit four students. At first, I was a little concerned because this student has tried to bypass multiple layers of bureaucracy by going straight to the top without informing me in advance.

I forwarded the email to my principal to give her a heads-up in case the CTO emailed her asking why her students were emailing her directly. She had replied back that the email was awesome and the student had earned the right to email the CTO. Last year, this student had created an intro video for a technology conference we hosted for 200 7th graders. The CTO was in one of the sessions, saw the video, and was talking to me about how great the video was. I told her that the student who created it was sitting right behind her. The CTO turned around, introduced herself to the student, handed him a business card, and told him to email her about a summer internship with the district. He did take her up on the offer and still works there during the week.

At Southwest CTA, we grade our students based on six tenets that we think will fairly grade the all-around abilities of students and best prepare them for college and a career. One of those tenets we grade is “use of resources.” It is something that we encourage on every assignment, project, and presentation. My principal reminded me that the student was just using the resources he had available to him to advocate for something that he needed to further his education. Despite my concerns about going above everyone’s head to get the site unblocked, he was utilizing a skill that we have been teaching our students for the last three years. We won’t know for a few days if his email worked, but I am proud of what he has tried to do to improve his group’s capstone project.