Bill Nara brings to Summer Academy eight years of experience as a Social Studies teacher. Four of those years were spent as an Advanced Placement World History teacher at Columbia Heights High School. Prior to teaching, he worked ten years as a cartographer, making topographic maps and analyzing aerial photography. He has run Strategy Board Games clubs at Irondale HS, Edgewood and Chippewa Middle Schools. Besides his passions for studying civilization and entrepreneurship, one of his favorite hobbies has always been recreating historical situations and teaching through games and simulations. He is looking forward to his fourth year at the Academy.
Board Game Design, Manufacturing
Looking to play even more sophisticated games such as Shogun , Diplomacy, Hansa Teutonica, Lancaster, Brass, Age of Industry, and others? Have you taken all the other game classes SA has to offer? Have you secretly, or not so secretly, been working on the next Monopoly, Risk Variation, Settlers of Catan, Clue or Blokus? Bring your ideas to the Summer Academy Venture Capitalists Inc. where you can work with a graphic designer, printer, small business lawyer, banker, and game designer/publisher in order to bring your idea to the market. Interact both as a team and individually to prototype and package your entire game design. Learn what it takes to develop and bring a product to market by the professionals. This class is for experienced gaming students that enjoy playing sophisticated board games at a high level and are also ready for a more complete game design project. We will also be visiting design and manufacturing facilities to understand mass production. Half of your time will still be used to play and test games and half of your time will be used to design and prototype your product. A thirst for invention and strong academic skills are critical for success. Seeing your game idea come to life can be as much, or more fun, than playing someone else’s game!
