July 20, 2008 — Residents often talk about college students leaving the Virgin Islands for college, graduating and never returning to contribute their talents to the workforce. Cylton Grouby plans to buck that trend.
He plans to return to St. Croix to design video games after going to college for computer science.
"I want to design games based on St. Croix and the characters would actually be in St. Croix," Grouby said. "I would like to have my own company here. It will be a fun career — a job I would enjoy going to every day."
Recently, taking part in the Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) workshop reaffirmed his thoughts and ambitions of becoming a video game designer. The workshop utilized NetLOGO, a software that develops complex models to simulate scientific research. Participants learned to create models using NetLOGO and build robotic rovers guided by remote control.
"Cylton is very sharp and quick at figuring things out," said Michelle Peterson, NetLOGO instructor and science coordinator at the University of the Virgin Islands, where the workshop was held. Petersen said Grouby would have a question — and when she got one or two words out of the answer, he would say, "I got it."
Grouby said his favorite part of the program was building the rovers. The robots were created with the intention of performing a simulated excavation on Mars.
"Sometimes me and my partner would argue on how to build it but at the end we would come to a compromise," Grouby said. He said in the workshop he had a lot of fun learning to work with his peers
He added it was a real learning experience finding out how robots are used in NASA programs.
"A lot of times when we were using the NetLOGO program to create a game we had to try different ideas to get it finished," Grouby said. "This program taught me a lot of teamwork, patience and a lot of thinking."
Grouby, from Frederiksted, is in the 10th grade at St Croix Educational Complex. He is the oldest child of Wreford and Shereen Grouby and he has three younger sisters.
His sisters actually turned him on to the STEM program saying how much fun it was after they took part in weekend programs.
Grouby said he likes to spend a lot of time on the computer gathering information, gaining knowledge and playing games.
"My dad can be strict and his influence has been for me to always get my work done first," he said.
"He has the knack for the computer," said Wreford Grouby. "He is always looking up information and being very creative."
He isn't always on the computer though. He said he really enjoyed reading all six of the Harry Potter novels. He likes to hang out at the beach with friends and family, play basketball and soccer.
"He loves soccer but has a problem with his back so we try to direct him towards music," his father said.
For the past five years that musical direction has taken him towards playing the steel pan in a youth orchestra at St. John's Anglican Church in Christiansted.
"If game designing doesn't work out I would like to open my own business like an electronics store or a hotel here on St. Croix," Grouby said.
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