20 years of bonding with BGCA
Ever since primary school, Anderson has been an active member of the Mei Foo Children & Youth Integrated Services Centre. From participating in summertime activities every year when he was young, to playing basketball regularly with a group of friends he met at the Centre in secondary school, Anderson even became a tutor of the summertime activities. After graduating from university, Anderson is still very active in the BGCA circle, making him one of the longest standing members with close to 20 years of membership.
Established a start-up to integrate gaming into events and education
In university, Anderson first came across Minecraft – a popular video game in recent years. He said he immediately fell in love with it because of the game’s creativity freedom. Players can create almost anything they have in their minds, allowing them to exercise their creativity.
Apart from enjoying the game itself, Anderson started producing videos relating to Minecraft and became a YouTuber with over 100,000 subscribers. Later on, together with his Minecraft-loving friends, he established a start-up which they organised the first official Minecraft event in Hong Kong. During the COVID-19 epidemic two years ago, Anderson even hosted the first ever virtual concert on Minecraft in Asia.
Until recent years, Anderson began to focus on integrating Minecraft into education, such as designing some scientific experiments and incorporating English stories in the game, hoping to increase students’ interest in learning. He believed game education fosters students’ creative learning, and assists them to explore more possibilities on their talent development, “life today is fast changing, and we have to adapt to it spontaneously. Playing computer game sharpens players’ problem-solving skills, it enhances children's capability of facing life challenges with flexibility.”
Anderson pointed out that enhancing digital literacy and creativity is important as most of the jobs require employees to work online with computers, “Internet is a hug resource hub, the way making good use of online resources to fulfil tasks reflects a person’s digital literacy and creativity. This is quite essential to youth!” Anderson encouraged youth to try programming and use new digital tools to integrate school knowledges with actual practices.
Hoping to bring the same experience to young people
In 2018, Anderson coincidentally partnered with NiteCat Online (Cyber Youth Support Team) for a half-year project, recruiting over 200 youths from five centres to carry out various “missions” on Minecraft. The game connected the young people together, and Anderson witnessed the positive changes inside them which makes him delighted.
Looking back on his experience growing up with BGCA, Anderson said it was fate that brought them together, and he is very grateful for the opportunity provided to develop his strengths and hobbies. He will continue to develop his passion in gaming and education, to create a self-learning platform for young people to learn new knowledge, which is his way of giving back to the society.
More About BGCA Integrated Children and Youth Services Centres
More about Nite Cat Online (Cyber Youth Support Team)
