Senior Profile: Jesse Balay

Armed with a passion for video games, senior Jesse Balay will attend Carroll University to major in Computer Science with an emphasis on video game design.

“I spend a lot of my time on the computer, and I also like math,” Balay said. “What am I going to do with my life? Math, video games, computers — I’ll go into computer science.”

Balay’s future school Carroll is better known for its nursing and athletic training programs, but Balay said he trusts the strength of their computer science program, especially considering it shares classes with a more technical school.

“While they do teach programming, the video game stuff is more at the other school,” he said. “It’s still the same degree. At first I was a little worried, but then I found everyone who graduates from Carroll with a computer science degree finds a job within six months and are getting paid just as much as anyone else.”

Regretfully, Balay didn’t take computer science classes or attend camps while in high school due to the cost, but he had suggested to administration offering next year’s AP Computer Science class. However, his lack of experience in computer science doesn’t deter him from pursuing his major.

“I have watched a lot of videos on it, and it seems like something I’d like to do,” Balay said. “It made me really nervous because I’m jumping into a field I know nothing about. I’m good at math, so I’m hoping it works out. Even if it doesn’t, programming is always going to be with us, so it’s not like I’m wasting my time. I could always work in IT or software.”

His love for video games started young, and he’s been exploring them ever since, including playing classic games like Halo, various massive multiplayer online games and role-playing games like League of Legends.

“I play League of Legends every day,” he said. “I’m kind of really nerdy. It’s not like I’m set on one genre; I like everything. My dad bought an original X-Box, the box one, when it first came out. I was really young at the time, and it was father-son bonding time because I don’t like sports.”

He said he likes the relative safety of computer science, saying it isn’t a risky field. Computer science is a major aspect in most technologies and is applicable to several fields. Additionally, it’s based on a concept Balay loves: math.

“In order to get my major, I need to take a bunch of calculus,” he said. “I’m not big on knowing why it’s used, but I have to take a math lab. I’ll see the practical reasons why it’s used. I just know that I need to know a lot of math, and I like math.”

Video game design will also let him be creative as well as practical, though in different ways than people assume.

“When I’m talking about design, I’m not talking about drawing,” he said. “That’s the graphic design aspect, like the programming and everything behind the story. I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m not really good at art.”

For an end goal, Balay hopes to pursue his passion in the workforce.

“League of Legends is one of my favorite games, so it’d be a really cool job if I got to work for them,” he said. “But, I also want to make my own video game one day. Best of both worlds is if I can work for them and on the side, make my own game. It’d be great to work on my own and work for a company I’ll probably love.”