CAIRO WEAVER, OAK9 GOLD

“Once a Genius, always a Genius” is something 18-year-old Cairo Weaver has come to know the meaning of very well. From the moment he was eligible to sign up as a Youth Educator, Cairo jumped at the chance so that he could stay connected and impart the knowledge he gained from the program. And, as an attendee of our inaugural Genius 4 Life Summit earlier this year, he was able to reunite with brothers from his OAK9 Gold cohort and network with fellow alumni spanning our 12 years of Intensive Immersion Programming. Now a first-year student at City College of San Francisco, Cairo has his sights set on transferring to UC Santa Cruz and majoring in Computer Science, with the goal of pursuing a career in video game development.

How have you been? 

I recently graduated high school and I’m going to start attending City College of San Francisco this fall semester with the goal of transferring to UC Santa Cruz to pursue their game development major. I’m looking forward to being in a new environment and hopefully meeting more people who have similar goals and interests as me, like playing video games.

I recently got to attend the Genius 4 Life Summit with The Hidden Genius Project at Universal Studios. This was a very meaningful trip because it truly showed that The Hidden Genius Project is much more than a 15- month Immersion Program, it’s a brotherhood and once we become a Genius we are always a genius. I also worked at the Ubuntu Center this summer teaching the game engine Unity. 

How did you first learn about The Hidden Genius Project?

I learned about The Hidden Genius Project through my mom. She heard about the program years ago and waited until I was old enough to encourage me to apply. When she initially told me about it, I was not interested in a program that was going to be 15 months of coding, or at least that was how it seemed to me at the time, especially because COVID lockdowns were still happening at that time. But after joining the program and completing my final project it far exceeded my expectations. 

What was your experience in the program like?

My experience was great. Meeting new people with similar interests who also look like me was the best part. The highlight of my experience was definitely the final summer, where I got to learn about Unity and develop my own game as my final project. I learned a lot about technology due to The Hidden Genius Project. Before, I never even considered developing video games as a potential career for me. Through immersion programming I was able to help develop a full game and make my own as my final project. The Hidden Genius Project also has helped me a lot with improving my leadership skills as a Youth Educator as I have been able to lead lessons teaching kids knowledge that I gained during my immersion. Most recently I’ve been able to teach Unity at the Ubuntu Center which was great. Prior to that I taught Scratch and other block based coding languages. 

Describe the game you designed during your time in the Immersion Program. 

I made a game called Roller Guy using the Unity game engine. In the game you play as a sphere picking up collectibles while also fighting off red cubes. The objective is to pick up all the collectibles before being defeated by the red cubes. My favorite part of developing this game was when we were told that if we added a feature to the game we would get rewarded with extra money in our stipend. So I researched how I could add a health bar and once I figured out how I was able to help others learn how to add a health bar too which felt really good to help them. After the program I was thinking about what the next step would be to continue pursuing game development and only a few months later Jabari reached out with an opportunity to build a game with Genius Gaming Studios so I immediately jumped at the opportunity to continue making games. 

How is The Hidden Genius Project different from other mentorship or training experiences that you have been involved in? 

I was in another program kind of similar to The Hidden Genius Project that also teaches technology skills to the youth. However in this program I wasn’t able to build the same kind of bonds that I was able to with the people in Immersion Programming. In The Hidden Genius Project, not only does everyone look like me but we also always supported each other. During our final project it was always encouraged that we help each other as much as possible which not only helped to make sure everyone completed their projects, but it allowed us to really connect and be a networking system with each other. I also think that The Hidden Genius Project being a 15-month program versus the other program that was 3 months gave me more time to actually learn what I liked from the different tracks and learn more about each. 

What specific skills learned in The Hidden Genius Project have been most beneficial for you? 

One of the main things I learned during The Hidden Genius Project is the importance of creation and how important it is for people like me to be in more creative spaces. After being in The Hidden Genius Project I’m always trying to make sure that no matter what I’m always trying to create something or learn the skills to create something.

Additionally, as a Youth Educator my leadership skills have been able to greatly improve. I started projecting my voice more as I’ve been teaching in more spaces and events such as Brother’s Code. I also learned to start putting myself in more uncomfortable situations like getting in front of younger people and teaching them something valuable. This has also tied into networking. In The Hidden Genius Project I learned how important networking is. All the events that we are able to go to through The Hidden Genius Project we should always be trying to network and meet people who may already be in the spaces we want to be in or also wants to be in those same spaces and could be a potential partner.

What was the most important thing you gained on a personal level (development, relationship, community, etc.) from participating in The Hidden Genius Project? 

The most important thing I gained was definitely brotherhood. I’ve been able to meet so many great people through this program and some of them I became good friends with even outside of The Hidden Genius Project. Also, I think if I never participated in The Hidden Genius Project I wouldn’t know what I’d want to do or I would have gone down a very different path, most likely one that didn’t involve technology as heavily as the one I’m on now. Currently I’m starting school at City College of San Francisco as a Computer Science major with the goal of transferring to UC Santa Cruz in order to pursue a degree in gam development. Although it’s been a few months since we completed our project, the Genius Gaming Studios team greatly helped me learn about the video game development process and I hope to continue working with them soon. 

I think before The Hidden Genius Project I just didn’t see myself being as knowledgeable about technology and being more unclear on the path I wanted to go in my life. I knew close to nothing about coding. I always knew I wanted to do something involving gaming in some way, but I never knew what path to take in order to get my foot in the door for this field. The Hidden Genius Project gave me the introduction I needed by teaching me about game development, coding, and networking so that I could plan a more clear path to pursue working in the gaming industry. 

In what ways have you remained involved with The Hidden Genius Project since completing the 15-month Intensive Immersion program? 

I have been a Youth Educator ever since I was first eligible to become one and I participated in the first game development of Genius Gaming Studios where I worked with other alumni to create our game Surge Breaker. Most recently I worked at the Ubuntu Center with a good friend Jalen (OAK9 Gold) who also became an alumni the same year as me. At the Ubuntu Center we assisted with workshops to teach the kids about different tools and softwares  in the space. We also led our own workshop teaching Unity, a game development engine which we learned about during our immersion. 

In what ways has the staff of The Hidden Genius Project stayed connected and continued to support you since graduating from the program?

They supported me in my education when I was applying to college. I was offered to come on the paid trip to Universal Studios which was lots of fun and I got to meet Geniuses from other cohorts outside of the Oakland one. Other than enjoying the rides at Universal I found the networking opportunities to be very insightful despite not meeting anyone who was in the same field I wanted to be in. I enjoyed talking with all the people in their own respective fields.  Other than this trip, the most notable way The Hidden Genius Project has stayed connected was by reaching out to me for opportunities to work as a Youth Educator. 

If you could talk to yourself just before you applied, what is one thing you would say?

I would tell myself that I’m making the right choice by applying because a lot of great opportunities will open for me . I would also be able to broaden my knowledge in technology. 

What words of encouragement do you have for future Geniuses?

I would tell future Geniuses that no matter what career you want to pursue there is some way The Hidden Genius Project can help you reach those goals.