Hahnville senior signs with virtual reality gaming company – St. Charles Herald Guide

Ian Fischer smiled broadly as he spoke about the unique opportunity before him.

Its awesome Im enjoying every minute of it and Im excited about everything thats to come, Fischer said.

Last week, St. Charles Parish Public Schools held a Career and Technical Education (CTE) Letter of Intent Signing Ceremony that saw 10 of the school districts top students accept apprenticeship-type positions with various companies.

Fischer, a senior at Hahnville High School, signed with Striker VR, a virtual reality gaming company under the umbrella of HapTech Inc., a company founded by Hahnville High School alum Kyle Monti. HapTech is centered around haptics, the technology that gives real world sensations to virtual reality experiences. HapTech innovates military training weapons. Its training weapons are unique because they use magnets to create hard-hitting recoil thats more realistic, less expensive and easier to maintain than the traditional training weapon technology that was developed in the 1970s.

Fischer has been working on the Striker side of things for the past several weeks. The signing day made official what he had been offered a few days earlier a paid two-month internship position with the company, where decision-makers saw potential worth exploring in the student from the work he had done with the company already in a learning capacity.

When they told me we want you to stay, it was really a lets go! type of moment, Fischer said. It was a goal I had not necessarily expected though. I wanted to go there to learn about the industry and see if it is something Id like to continue to pursue. Im very excited to be able to continue there.

Fischer, a top member of Hahnvilles robotics team, said his interest in computers and software spurred him to explore an opportunity he came across a few years ago.

In the COVID year, Id done a bunch of credits already and learned about a program, Project SPARK in New Orleans, said Fischer. I figured, sure, Im already interested in these things I took an intro level class and really kind of fell in love with it. I started researching and learning more on my own, invested my time in it and learned what I wanted to do.

Monti said Fischer has a unique skillset that HapTech is happy to bring aboard and work with.

You could see when he was up there, when one of the students asked why is he so interested in this, Ians eyes lit up, Monti said. Hes been working on software interface that other companies with can take and integrate into their game.

Were so grateful for programs like this to exist to connect us with such talented individuals. Weve signed the paperwork and Ians coming on for a summer internship.

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Hahnville senior signs with virtual reality gaming company - St. Charles Herald Guide