Ten-year-old Andersen Le, a member of the Bellevue Boys & Girls Clubs, won the national Digital Arts Festival competition, beating out contestants from clubs across all 50 states. Anderson won top honors in the 10-12 age group of Game Tech for his video game “Recycle Man.”

“I like making games more than playing them,” said Anderson. “You can do anything and make them your own. My favorite part is the bazooka that blasts trash and turns it into recycling.”

Club staff estimates that Anderson spent a total of 20 hours developing the game.

“He would rush into the club every day over an entire month and go straight to “Recycle Man”, said Brian Hughes, Technology Coordinator. “It was cool to see a kid so focused on a project.”

The Digital Arts Festival uses Club Tech as the platform – a suite of technology programs developed by Microsoft specifically for Boys & Girls Clubs. Microsoft has been Boys & Girls Clubs leading technology partnership, which was launched in 2000 with a $100 million contribution to provide software, training and development of a digital literacy curriculum.

Other Digital Arts Festival winners from Bellevue included 9-state Pacific Regional Winners: Jacob Frumpkin, 6-9 year olds, Music Tech; Frederik Vork, 6-9 year olds, Photo Tech; and Rassul Karymsakov and Jacob Frumpkin, 6-9 Movie Tech.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Bellevue is the largest provider of after school youth programing in Bellevue with over 11,000 members. Programs focus on academic achievement, character and citizenship and healthy lifestyles.