Georgia Southern University’s Statesboro Campus is a diverse campus with lots of joyous energy. Ranging from the students who skate to class to students who participate in intramural sports for fun. This amazing campus features students from all walks of life.
However, the questions that should be asked are: Do we really know each other? Who are we as people?
Introducing a familiar face among the students of Statesboro that works at the Virtual Collaboration Center is none other than Kavan Thompson. Thompson graduated in May 2024 earning his degree in Graphic Design.
George Anne Staff: “How’s your overall experience working at the VCC?”
Kavan T.: “It’s pretty cool! I get to see the student culture in action. I get to see what they like, the kind of games they like to play and TV shows they like. I get to see them play at our events, our tournaments, and it’s really interesting. There have been a lot of good conversations, a lot of good running jokes with the customers, all kinds of stuff good. I did a trivia for comic book media during operation move-in. Like, a lot of people came in to participate. And when people do come in, they also see my art designs on the wall, I can tell them I made it so I can get myself out there.”
George Anne Staff: “How was making the designs for the VCC?”
Kavan T.: “A lot of the ideas came naturally. People come in, and I can get an idea based on what game they play. The process isn’t that bad. Sketching out stuff, and tracing sketches. There are a few of them that I made in a modeling program instead of drawing. Doing 3D modeling is pretty difficult, so that’s probably the hardest part. I got pretty lucky though as it was already kind of my hobby in high school. Going into college, I wanted to do film so I could have a film major and a Design Minor, and then as I was doing stuff for film, I realized I liked doing the design part more, even though I wanted to keep it as a hobby.”
George Anne Staff: “When you first started working at the VCC to now, how has it changed?”
Kavan T: “It’s really good. We are getting more ideas for events. We have a bunch of leagues. We’re incorporating a lot of the games we have here into leagues. So people are coming and playing with all their friends, getting these big events going. We’re drawing a lot of people and bigger crowds as we get more games in. As we get more things to do, people are coming in to see what is going on. Although it’s unfortunate, because people do graduate, so they leave but then it’s cool seeing other people come in and kind of fill that gap. It’s interesting. It’s like seeing generations pass on even though it has been a year.
George Anne Staff: “Just shining a light on the Virtual Collaboration Center, what is all that entails here?”
Kavan T.: “So basically we have the consoles that are free to play. You can play on our PS5, our Xbox series X, our Nintendo Switch OLED, and you can also set up your own console on a pedestal we have underneath our TVs, and we have a list of games. So you can come in, and choose whatever game you want to play. We also have the same thing for our board games, card games, tabletop games. You just tell us what you want to play and we’ll set it up on the tables for you. We also have TVs and a projector where you can hook up your computer and your phone. We also have one of our biggest attractions, which is our PC gaming area.”
