Samuel Abrams â23 and Daniel Hickey â20 are using their studio art and video game design degrees from Adelphi in roles at Universal Studios and High Moon Studios.
We talked with them to find out how Adelphi prepared them to land their dream jobs.
Samuel Abrams: A Ninja With a BFA
Abrams always knew he wanted to work in the arts. But a trip to when he was 15 years old gave him a clear goal.
âI knew I wanted to work there as soon as I saw it,â he said. âMy mom joked, âI am going to lose you to this place. Youâll be working here.ââ
His mom was right. Abrams is now in the craft department at Universal repairing the elaborate, hand-sculpted fixtures around the theme park. He works nights at various areas in the park, making sure everything is perfect for the next dayâs guests.
âWeâre like ninjas,â he said. âYou canât work on the cool sculpture stuff in the day when the people are there.â
Abrams works on fixtures in Universal Orlandoâs newest theme park, Universal Epic Adventure, which opened last year. Heâs worked on sculptures for rides like The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Ministry of Magic, How To Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk, Dark Universe, and Super Nintendo World, just to name a few. âI work all over,â he said. âCraft workers cover the entire park.â
Abrams earned a BFA in Studio Art at Adelphi. He credits the University for putting him on the path to the Universal job.
âMy professors gave me the space to grow as an artist,â he said. âThey let me work in whatever medium I wanted, even unconventional media.â
He said his professors initially encouraged him to be a fine artist. âI explained that I like the idea of gallery art, but I really wanted to make stuff for film and TV,â he said. âI wanted people to be able to touch my work and enjoy it.â His professors supported his goal and helped him do more applied work, he said. âOnce they understood what I wanted, they helped me develop the skills I needed to get there.â
With his professorsâ support, his senior thesis was a collection of sculptures of imaginary creatures that won the Universityâs Thomas McNulty Award for Excellence in Sculpture. After graduation, Abrams did gig work for two years, making store displays and props for TV shows and movies around New York. He landed a staff position at Universal last fall, and he loves his work.
âThis is my dream job,â he said. âIf Adelphi didnât let me have the freedom to do what I wanted, I wouldnât have gotten the position I have now,â Abrams said.
His mom doesnât mind that, as she predicted, her son went to Florida to work at Universal. âI get her free tickets to the park whenever she comes down to visit, so she forgives me,â Abrams explained.
Daniel Hickey: âLearning to be independent and teach myselfâ
Hickey is a technical designer for , where he works on the Zombies and Warzone modes of the popular video game Call of Duty. His mission there includes general programming and design work on quests in the gameâs Zombies mode and on the seasonal updates of the Warzone mode.
âThis is the job I always wanted,â he said. âI always wanted to be in the game industry, and I always wanted to be at the center of it all.â
High Moon Studios wasnât the first step in his career, though. Graduating from Adelphi at the height of the pandemic, he got together with two friends to work on games and build their rĂŠsumĂŠs. It paid off, helping him land a contract to work as a programmer and designer on Postal 4: No Regrets, the first-shooter game from Running With Scissors.
âThat was a fun time, because Iâm very, very locked in and focused on the action of video games,” Hickey said. âAnything to do with player combat is where I want to be in the driverâs seat of design and programming-wise.â Then he spent 10 months working for Mob Games on its Poppy Playtime game. All the indie work gave him a rĂŠsumĂŠ that helped him land the job at High Moon, he said.
That same energy and drive had pushed Hickey to transfer to Adelphi from the New York City College of Technology to take advantage of the Universityâs new minor in video game design. Hickey majored in information systems, and said the program was solid preparation for being a game developer. âItâs a blend of business operation and computer science,â he said.
The skills he learned in the program have made him better able to work in the highly collaborative atmosphere of game development, where programmers, artists, sound designers and other teams work together to create the final product. âI learned to communicate with everybody, which helps us work smoothly,â he said.
Hickey said he was able to get the personal attention at Adelphi that he needed to succeed. âThe school let me get close to all of my professors,â he said. âHonestly, I wasnât the best student. I only saw school as a formality; I just wanted to make games.â His professors helped him channel his desire for hands-on experience and encouraged his entrepreneurial streak by pointing him toward clubs and independent studies.
Taking his professorâs advice, he dove into extracurricular activities. He got an internship with the , which runs esports tournaments, and founded ĚěĂŔ´ŤĂ˝âs Esports club. He did so well in the internship that his boss recommended him for a position as a student ambassador for Unity Technologies, which connected him with game creators around the world. He became president of the campus chapter of the , turning the club into a group where students could work together on projects in the game development lab on campus. And he was a teaching assistant for Professor Lee Stemkoski, PhDâs video game course in Adelphiâs Pre-College Program.
One of the most important lessons he learned at Adelphi? âDr. Stemkoski encouraged me to be independent and teach myself,â he said. âThatâs a skill that keeps you learning for your entire life, even when you are out of school.â