FRESNO, Calif. ( KSEE ) – For gamers who play Call of Duty, it’s all about the immersive experience and one of the people responsible for making it feel so real is a local woman.
Mercedes Burks is 29 years old and is a technical artist, working for Sledgehammer Games. The studio is part of Activision which publishes Call of Duty. She was the keynote speaker at this year’s Stem for Girls conference.
“There’s a million different jobs that you can do within stem,” Burks said.
Burks grew up in Fresno and attended schools in Central Unified.
When Burks attended Liddel Elementary in Fresno, Dr. Michele Cantwell-Copher, the Superintendent of Fresno County Schools was her principal.
“Watching her grow to today be this accomplished as she calls herself “steminist”, I’m just so proud of her,” Cantwell-Copher said.
Burks talked about her path to her current job. At the conference, she told the middle and high school students who were there that she first focused on biology but found her passion in art.