While working through his coursework at Citrus College in the spring of 2022, Glendora resident Quangnhan "Q" Duong stayed up late nights teaching himself Lua and Blender — and built a game that would climb to the top 500 on Roblox and rack up 27 million plays in six months.

"When I was completing my classwork in the spring of 2022, I realized I could weave course material with programming and game development. After countless nights of reading Lua documentation, print debugging and navigating Blender, I created a game that quickly skyrocketed to the top 500 on Roblox," he said. "In just six months, my game was played 27 million times. So, I decided to start my own game development business."

Q believes the time he spent at Citrus College played a role in his success. "Citrus has given me the opportunity to learn more about myself and my capabilities," he said. "The academic freedom and the understanding instructors have enabled me to discover what I want to do."

One particularly beneficial experience was Q's internship at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). "Working on simulations as part of my JPL internship marked my transition from game development to engineering," he said.

This fall, Q will be transferring to the UC Berkeley. His ultimate goal is to pair his passion for engineering with his new interest in business. "Creating games is not enough," he said. "I aspire to engineer something more meaningful. Citrus College has provided me with so much opportunity and growth – I am now ready to take on great challenges."