[Music]
please raise your hand if you’ve heard
any of the following statements you
ready they’re easy playing video games
leads to violent behaviors there it is
okay cool all right
all right second one if you play too
many video games you’ll end up living in
your parents basement forever yeah all
right okay go last one this last one all
right I promise how many of you ever
heard that playing video games promotes
positive relationships between people
and there it is look around ask yourself
what just happened why is it that we’ve
all heard the first two stories but not
this last one is there something
different about kids who play video
games when it comes to making friends
and building relationships should the
less social and Society be left in that
basement alone to play by themselves or
is it possible to make something more of
them my name is Josh Bell and I’m a
teacher at the career magnet school in
Chambersburg Pennsylvania and today I’m
here to share my journey with you which
has led to an idea worth spreading and
that is that video games are the perfect
tool for making the socially awkward
socially active think about a
relationship you have with a loved one
please take a minute think about think
about what makes that relationship so
awesome for some of us building
relationships is literally as easy as
opening a door just that simple but for
others in society the door always seems
to be locked I ran into one of these
locked doors when I was building
relationship with someone very very
important to me my very own son hmm it’s
here in this relationship where my idea
the heart of this story is me
a super social jock father who wants
nothing more than to live his life watch
these kids grow up on a on a sports
field like I said before this is where
my stories gonna take room Ivy’s gonna
take root as a jock father begins to
look for ways to build a relationship
with his non jock introverted son who
wants nothing more than to be
unconditionally loved okay so I mention
it before my son sits on the autism
autism spectrum and building friends is
something that is socially challenging
for him so when I say it’s at the heart
of this story as videogames you
understand why I’ll never forget the day
I truly began accepting my son for who
he was I was in my garage working on
underneath a 1968
Carolina blue and white Volkswagen
Beetle it’s a convertible flat on my
back gorgeous car with a much-needed
screwdriver just six inches outside my
reach it’s literally right there at that
moment my son comes running into the
garage for some reason and as he’s
leaving he’s physically leaving stepping
over me
I caught him I say hey buddy do me a
favor and give me that screwdriver I
can’t reach it now I was expected my son
stops he squats down and he makes eye
contact with me with that little kid
kind of hanging upside down sort of look
do you know look I’m talking about
hey I makes eye contact with me it looks
at me and looks at the screwdriver he
says but my hands will get dirty dad and
then he wipes his hands off on his shirt
like this like he actually touched the
hmm instantly instantly for me tears
begin filling up with my eyes my son and
I had been on this autism rollercoaster
for like seven years and at that moment
everything came to a screeching halt I
physically couldn’t connect with my son
I didn’t understand him he was literally
as close as that screwdriver but just as
out of reach somehow through my
devastation I knew that that moment I
would have to be the one who changed if
I was going to have a meaningful and
true relationship with my boy I would
have to do it well a couple days later I
would get this chance we were shopping
at our grocery store a store and we
start he started playing Mario Kart on a
Nintendo Wii console that they had set
up in the back at that moment another
little boy comes running up to the to
the machine and grabs the second control
and jumps in the game now for the next
five minutes of my life I’m in absolute
dad heaven my son and a boy he had never
met before its entire life began they
race go-karts like they’ve been best
friends their entire lives and I knew at
that moment this was it this was my
answer this was it so when I go home I
go home I see my life I say hey Heidi
I’d like to I’d like to allow our son to
play video games so that when he goes to
school he’ll have something to talk
about with all the little second graders
now to my surprise my wife she starts
building the Great Wall instantly the
Great Wall of not my house and he should
play outside arguments classic right
nevertheless like needless to say she
was not a fan of the whole idea in fact
she asked she actually asked me to not
introduce videogames until at least
sixth grade which I gotta tell you is a
super long time too ridiculously long
time in fact that fact for a guy like me
now I admit it
I should have honored her wishes yeah
you know her those gone I you know I
should have I should have honored their
her wishes I admit it I admit it and and
talk to her and discuss the purchase of
such a life-altering machine I admit it
but here’s the thing we’d been married
like 12 years at that point so I figured
I’d test the old adage
is always better to ask for forgiveness
yeah yeah
then permission right right well yeah oh
she was she was more than upset believe
me I know I believe she was more than
sad especially when she came home and
found her son playing Mario Kart in the
living room bouncing you and just in
place with excitement but here’s the
thing here’s the thing Mario Kart
allowed me to teach my son to win and
lose with grace and to give him a sense
of accomplishment
minecraft allowed me to look inside his
mind and see all the critical thinking
skills that were going on in a nearly
limitless world and we bowling allowed
me to honestly lose at a sport to my
seven-year-old the truth is video games
were allowing me to make a real
connection with my boy and gaming
finally allowed me the opportunity to
teach him all of the team oriented
problem-solving critical thinking skills
I always learned on the lacrosse fields
of my youth now about the same time as
as this revelation is going down with my
personal son I’m sitting in my classroom
and I’m talking to three students look
how beautiful they are
oh I’m singing my three students Aiden
well as I’m Pattillo and seroff Patel
well the four of us are sitting around
the table and we’re basically discussing
the pros and cons of the latest gaming
consoles right when one of them I think
it was Zion said out loud hey it’d be
really cool if we had a video game club
here at school the cro-magnon school
well instantly I began thinking of my
son and how awesome it would be for him
to play video games in a super social
setting so for me I was all in it was
more than a motivation for me and
besides if I could build a club at a
high school into a safe place for kids
like my boy well that’s a series my book
that’s a serious win so by the end of
the first day the guys and I have
created an entire iTunes U course we
recruited a second advisor video game
junky Mike Pettine jur and we had 12
members the first day
by the end of the second day that was a
little different word was getting out
about the video game club and so I need
an official go or no-go vote for my
principal dr. mark long now I hadn’t
been with mark as long as I had been
with my wife
so his permission was kind of necessary
in this one so before we met with mark
we hashed out a conversation which which
focus on two key points the first of
which is a video game club will connect
with all of the kids that the cool label
had missed and it give them a place for
them to basically grow relationships on
their own and secondly it’d be a
wonderful opportunity to teach a bunch
of introverted kids real-world soft
skills and problem-solving techniques
thereby making them more employable when
they graduated now to our surprise at
our surprise by the end of the
conversation we had not only formed a
video game Club but dr. long was
actually asking us what we needed from
him no me too now now before the shock
the shock wore off that video games were
literally kicking down the door of
education one of these guys yells out a
PlayStation 4 would be nice and yeah
believe it or not the student school
board would actually buy us a
PlayStation 4 to help get things started
I mean it’s unbelievable
well we got when we came back to school
the following fall these guys the guys
and I started looking for ways
immediately to to help us become seen as
more legitimate at one of our meetings
we came across the website Extra Life
org which which promotes the idea of
hosting 24 hour gaming video gaming
sessions board games video games to
raise money for children with cancer
Aiden won let put it best that day when
he said Mr Brown most of us play video
games all night with each other online
anyhow so so why not do for a good cause
and just like that
the career magnet school video game club
now just being called the VGC
was raising money for Hershey Medical
Center and we were on our way to making
a serious statement now unfortunately
unfortunately as we were prepping the
building for that inaugural event
tragedy was gonna strike close to home
a student was entering his senior year
at the career magnet school and he had
he had come down he’d been diagnosed
with leukemia
unfortunately that student Chris Sellars
would pass away just days before our
then it’s nothing else you can say to it
the group the group voted unanimously to
donate all the money from that first 24
hour video game marathon to Chris’s
family to help offset the cost of the
funeral now when I gave Chris’s mom the
over $1500 we had raised our kids wanted
no praise or recognition and it was
becoming blatantly apparent to us that
being socially active was to become our
new thing that was it and the idea was
was gaining real traction because by the
holiday break we had eclipsed 100
members which is roughly one seventh of
the entire schools population we were
really poised to break out because we
were simply inspiring change now out of
that first fundraiser as heartbreaking
as it was this heartbreak is it was it
inspired the founding members to push
the new membership to do even more for
instance as a result of our second video
game marathon we would purchase Nintendo
Wii consoles for the Pediatrics rooms of
our local hospital every room has a
Nintendo Wii and in addition to that we
gave them an encyclopedia of DVDs and
video games for their parents and
children to enjoy while they were
cooperate ‘add that spring we would post
a Minecraft room at the Chambersburg
just just this past spring we’re not
only asked to host the room again but
they actually act they actually tasked
us with the idea of hosting a Wii
Nintendo WiiU party by projecting video
games onto the walls of the hallways all
around the building for these kids to
celebrate each other and be with each
other on this special day just this
month actually just last week a second
video game Club would open its doors at
the Chambersburg Area Senior High School
on its very first day with just one
morning announcement over 100 kids
signed up to become members now with all
the success that we’ve had at the career
magnet school and coupled with the idea
that we open another video game club at
our sister High School it’s becoming
more obvious to us that this process not
only can but should be repeated so I’m
proud to proud to say that we have begun
the establishment of the of the video
game Clubs of America a student driven
nonprofit organization designed entirely
around the idea of establishing video
game clubs in every high school across
this country we will supply these
schools as a school that wants the video
game system a video game club will
supply them with a Nintendo Wii U
console select games and controllers at
absolutely no cost to them
and paid for entirely through our
fundraising efforts in addition through
our website VGC usa.org we will supply
them with educational standards parental
consent forms in curriculum designed to
maximize the impact of gaming in a high
school and make it run running a club as
simple as possible now with all the
things that we’ve been able to
accomplish I still have yet to tell you
my most favorite memory for making the
socially awkward socially active there’s
a good about a year ago about a year ago
we were formally challenged by
the retirees at the spirit trust
Lutheran retirement community
thank you two games two games of Wii
bowling and board games in case you know
we bowling is a it’s a game that mimics
the actual action of bowling but in a
video game format now as the date
approached to go Bowl with old people as
the kids were calling it it became
apparent to me that their confidence was
at an all-time high because on the ride
over they talked about going easy on
waiting for our kids were some of the
nicest grandmas and grandpas you could
ever want to meet and because of our
host demeanor it became apparent that my
kids confidence was even it was even
more out of control because of what they
unfortunately for these Millennials the
greatest generation demonstrated will
hiya deterred such a tight whole now you
know that’s gone right because of the
bowling was over my oh so confident
students had lost now I’d like to I’d
like to say I’d like to say that my kids
weren’t easy on them and let them win
but the truth of the matter is grandpa
John was so good at Wii bowling that he
was talking trash in the most passive
manner possible I mean it was ridiculous
he would say things like it’s okay jr.
that’s why they gave you ten frames and
at my personal favorite my very personal
I’m a very sarcastic you did it when a
kid would get a spare
I think you know my kids were in such
shock but I think I think two of them
quit we balling all together that day
because I mean can you imagine getting
schooled by your grandpa and something
you’re supposed to be good at let me
think about that
14 teenagers conversing with 20 retirees
laughing sharing stories and making
memories all of this is possible because
of a video game and an opportunity given
to young people now I’d like to think
what we’ve been able to accomplish is
magic but it’s really not
the truth is kids just want to be around
other kids like themselves in an
environment that is welcoming and
socially acceptable socially friendly
and safe video games offer a neutral
platform in which jocks brains grandpas
and even introverts can see each other
beyond the stereotypes society imposes
on them I now see all sorts of kids
coming into the VGC and they all relate
to each other and their community
through gaming but most importantly for
me it has unlocked the door to a
fantastic relationship with my own son I
know thank you
they warned us about that by the way
okay my I’m almost done my name is Josh
bound and I use video games to make the
socially awkward socially active and to
empower the youth of today to build
relationships in order to have a
positive impact on the world tomorrow
thank you [Applause]
please raise your hand if you’ve heard
any of the following statements you
ready they’re easy playing video games
leads to violent behaviors there it is
okay cool all right
all right second one if you play too
many video games you’ll end up living in
your parents basement forever yeah all
right okay go last one this last one all
right I promise how many of you ever
heard that playing video games promotes
positive relationships between people
and there it is look around ask yourself
what just happened why is it that we’ve
all heard the first two stories but not
this last one is there something
different about kids who play video
games when it comes to making friends
and building relationships should the
less social and Society be left in that
basement alone to play by themselves or
is it possible to make something more of
them my name is Josh Bell and I’m a
teacher at the career magnet school in
Chambersburg Pennsylvania and today I’m
here to share my journey with you which
has led to an idea worth spreading and
that is that video games are the perfect
tool for making the socially awkward
socially active think about a
relationship you have with a loved one
please take a minute think about think
about what makes that relationship so
awesome for some of us building
relationships is literally as easy as
opening a door just that simple but for
others in society the door always seems
to be locked I ran into one of these
locked doors when I was building
relationship with someone very very
important to me my very own son hmm it’s
here in this relationship where my idea
the heart of this story is me
a super social jock father who wants
nothing more than to live his life watch
these kids grow up on a on a sports
field like I said before this is where
my stories gonna take room Ivy’s gonna
take root as a jock father begins to
look for ways to build a relationship
with his non jock introverted son who
wants nothing more than to be
unconditionally loved okay so I mention
it before my son sits on the autism
autism spectrum and building friends is
something that is socially challenging
for him so when I say it’s at the heart
of this story as videogames you
understand why I’ll never forget the day
I truly began accepting my son for who
he was I was in my garage working on
underneath a 1968
Carolina blue and white Volkswagen
Beetle it’s a convertible flat on my
back gorgeous car with a much-needed
screwdriver just six inches outside my
reach it’s literally right there at that
moment my son comes running into the
garage for some reason and as he’s
leaving he’s physically leaving stepping
over me
I caught him I say hey buddy do me a
favor and give me that screwdriver I
can’t reach it now I was expected my son
stops he squats down and he makes eye
contact with me with that little kid
kind of hanging upside down sort of look
do you know look I’m talking about
hey I makes eye contact with me it looks
at me and looks at the screwdriver he
says but my hands will get dirty dad and
then he wipes his hands off on his shirt
like this like he actually touched the
hmm instantly instantly for me tears
begin filling up with my eyes my son and
I had been on this autism rollercoaster
for like seven years and at that moment
everything came to a screeching halt I
physically couldn’t connect with my son
I didn’t understand him he was literally
as close as that screwdriver but just as
out of reach somehow through my
devastation I knew that that moment I
would have to be the one who changed if
I was going to have a meaningful and
true relationship with my boy I would
have to do it well a couple days later I
would get this chance we were shopping
at our grocery store a store and we
start he started playing Mario Kart on a
Nintendo Wii console that they had set
up in the back at that moment another
little boy comes running up to the to
the machine and grabs the second control
and jumps in the game now for the next
five minutes of my life I’m in absolute
dad heaven my son and a boy he had never
met before its entire life began they
race go-karts like they’ve been best
friends their entire lives and I knew at
that moment this was it this was my
answer this was it so when I go home I
go home I see my life I say hey Heidi
I’d like to I’d like to allow our son to
play video games so that when he goes to
school he’ll have something to talk
about with all the little second graders
now to my surprise my wife she starts
building the Great Wall instantly the
Great Wall of not my house and he should
play outside arguments classic right
nevertheless like needless to say she
was not a fan of the whole idea in fact
she asked she actually asked me to not
introduce videogames until at least
sixth grade which I gotta tell you is a
super long time too ridiculously long
time in fact that fact for a guy like me
now I admit it
I should have honored her wishes yeah
you know her those gone I you know I
should have I should have honored their
her wishes I admit it I admit it and and
talk to her and discuss the purchase of
such a life-altering machine I admit it
but here’s the thing we’d been married
like 12 years at that point so I figured
I’d test the old adage
is always better to ask for forgiveness
yeah yeah
then permission right right well yeah oh
she was she was more than upset believe
me I know I believe she was more than
sad especially when she came home and
found her son playing Mario Kart in the
living room bouncing you and just in
place with excitement but here’s the
thing here’s the thing Mario Kart
allowed me to teach my son to win and
lose with grace and to give him a sense
of accomplishment
minecraft allowed me to look inside his
mind and see all the critical thinking
skills that were going on in a nearly
limitless world and we bowling allowed
me to honestly lose at a sport to my
seven-year-old the truth is video games
were allowing me to make a real
connection with my boy and gaming
finally allowed me the opportunity to
teach him all of the team oriented
problem-solving critical thinking skills
I always learned on the lacrosse fields
of my youth now about the same time as
as this revelation is going down with my
personal son I’m sitting in my classroom
and I’m talking to three students look
how beautiful they are
oh I’m singing my three students Aiden
well as I’m Pattillo and seroff Patel
well the four of us are sitting around
the table and we’re basically discussing
the pros and cons of the latest gaming
consoles right when one of them I think
it was Zion said out loud hey it’d be
really cool if we had a video game club
here at school the cro-magnon school
well instantly I began thinking of my
son and how awesome it would be for him
to play video games in a super social
setting so for me I was all in it was
more than a motivation for me and
besides if I could build a club at a
high school into a safe place for kids
like my boy well that’s a series my book
that’s a serious win so by the end of
the first day the guys and I have
created an entire iTunes U course we
recruited a second advisor video game
junky Mike Pettine jur and we had 12
members the first day
by the end of the second day that was a
little different word was getting out
about the video game club and so I need
an official go or no-go vote for my
principal dr. mark long now I hadn’t
been with mark as long as I had been
with my wife
so his permission was kind of necessary
in this one so before we met with mark
we hashed out a conversation which which
focus on two key points the first of
which is a video game club will connect
with all of the kids that the cool label
had missed and it give them a place for
them to basically grow relationships on
their own and secondly it’d be a
wonderful opportunity to teach a bunch
of introverted kids real-world soft
skills and problem-solving techniques
thereby making them more employable when
they graduated now to our surprise at
our surprise by the end of the
conversation we had not only formed a
video game Club but dr. long was
actually asking us what we needed from
him no me too now now before the shock
the shock wore off that video games were
literally kicking down the door of
education one of these guys yells out a
PlayStation 4 would be nice and yeah
believe it or not the student school
board would actually buy us a
PlayStation 4 to help get things started
I mean it’s unbelievable
well we got when we came back to school
the following fall these guys the guys
and I started looking for ways
immediately to to help us become seen as
more legitimate at one of our meetings
we came across the website Extra Life
org which which promotes the idea of
hosting 24 hour gaming video gaming
sessions board games video games to
raise money for children with cancer
Aiden won let put it best that day when
he said Mr Brown most of us play video
games all night with each other online
anyhow so so why not do for a good cause
and just like that
the career magnet school video game club
now just being called the VGC
was raising money for Hershey Medical
Center and we were on our way to making
a serious statement now unfortunately
unfortunately as we were prepping the
building for that inaugural event
tragedy was gonna strike close to home
a student was entering his senior year
at the career magnet school and he had
he had come down he’d been diagnosed
with leukemia
unfortunately that student Chris Sellars
would pass away just days before our
then it’s nothing else you can say to it
the group the group voted unanimously to
donate all the money from that first 24
hour video game marathon to Chris’s
family to help offset the cost of the
funeral now when I gave Chris’s mom the
over $1500 we had raised our kids wanted
no praise or recognition and it was
becoming blatantly apparent to us that
being socially active was to become our
new thing that was it and the idea was
was gaining real traction because by the
holiday break we had eclipsed 100
members which is roughly one seventh of
the entire schools population we were
really poised to break out because we
were simply inspiring change now out of
that first fundraiser as heartbreaking
as it was this heartbreak is it was it
inspired the founding members to push
the new membership to do even more for
instance as a result of our second video
game marathon we would purchase Nintendo
Wii consoles for the Pediatrics rooms of
our local hospital every room has a
Nintendo Wii and in addition to that we
gave them an encyclopedia of DVDs and
video games for their parents and
children to enjoy while they were
cooperate ‘add that spring we would post
a Minecraft room at the Chambersburg
just just this past spring we’re not
only asked to host the room again but
they actually act they actually tasked
us with the idea of hosting a Wii
Nintendo WiiU party by projecting video
games onto the walls of the hallways all
around the building for these kids to
celebrate each other and be with each
other on this special day just this
month actually just last week a second
video game Club would open its doors at
the Chambersburg Area Senior High School
on its very first day with just one
morning announcement over 100 kids
signed up to become members now with all
the success that we’ve had at the career
magnet school and coupled with the idea
that we open another video game club at
our sister High School it’s becoming
more obvious to us that this process not
only can but should be repeated so I’m
proud to proud to say that we have begun
the establishment of the of the video
game Clubs of America a student driven
nonprofit organization designed entirely
around the idea of establishing video
game clubs in every high school across
this country we will supply these
schools as a school that wants the video
game system a video game club will
supply them with a Nintendo Wii U
console select games and controllers at
absolutely no cost to them
and paid for entirely through our
fundraising efforts in addition through
our website VGC usa.org we will supply
them with educational standards parental
consent forms in curriculum designed to
maximize the impact of gaming in a high
school and make it run running a club as
simple as possible now with all the
things that we’ve been able to
accomplish I still have yet to tell you
my most favorite memory for making the
socially awkward socially active there’s
a good about a year ago about a year ago
we were formally challenged by
the retirees at the spirit trust
Lutheran retirement community
thank you two games two games of Wii
bowling and board games in case you know
we bowling is a it’s a game that mimics
the actual action of bowling but in a
video game format now as the date
approached to go Bowl with old people as
the kids were calling it it became
apparent to me that their confidence was
at an all-time high because on the ride
over they talked about going easy on
waiting for our kids were some of the
nicest grandmas and grandpas you could
ever want to meet and because of our
host demeanor it became apparent that my
kids confidence was even it was even
more out of control because of what they
unfortunately for these Millennials the
greatest generation demonstrated will
hiya deterred such a tight whole now you
know that’s gone right because of the
bowling was over my oh so confident
students had lost now I’d like to I’d
like to say I’d like to say that my kids
weren’t easy on them and let them win
but the truth of the matter is grandpa
John was so good at Wii bowling that he
was talking trash in the most passive
manner possible I mean it was ridiculous
he would say things like it’s okay jr.
that’s why they gave you ten frames and
at my personal favorite my very personal
I’m a very sarcastic you did it when a
kid would get a spare
I think you know my kids were in such
shock but I think I think two of them
quit we balling all together that day
because I mean can you imagine getting
schooled by your grandpa and something
you’re supposed to be good at let me
think about that
14 teenagers conversing with 20 retirees
laughing sharing stories and making
memories all of this is possible because
of a video game and an opportunity given
to young people now I’d like to think
what we’ve been able to accomplish is
magic but it’s really not
the truth is kids just want to be around
other kids like themselves in an
environment that is welcoming and
socially acceptable socially friendly
and safe video games offer a neutral
platform in which jocks brains grandpas
and even introverts can see each other
beyond the stereotypes society imposes
on them I now see all sorts of kids
coming into the VGC and they all relate
to each other and their community
through gaming but most importantly for
me it has unlocked the door to a
fantastic relationship with my own son I
know thank you
they warned us about that by the way
okay my I’m almost done my name is Josh
bound and I use video games to make the
socially awkward socially active and to
empower the youth of today to build
relationships in order to have a
positive impact on the world tomorrow
thank you [Applause]
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