Budding digital animators and game programmers will soon have another option for learning those skills — through Seattle Public Schools’ new Skills Center.

Applications are now being taken for the Skills Center, which will offer high school programs in Aerospace Science and Health Science, as well as a Cisco/Microsoft IT Academy for those pursuing careers in information technology. It all starts this fall.

But the true geek excitement may be tied to the fourth program for Digital Animation and Game Programming. Four courses will be offered at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment at Seattle Center, which opened its Seattle campus last year. The courses sport the otherwise staid, descriptive titles of Animation/Game Design 1, Animation/Game Design 2, Game Programming & Development 1 and Game Programming & Development 2.

Students who are accepted can earn college credit, and — and here’s the cool part — learn sketching, storyboarding, 3D animation concepts and “focus on creating concepts, design, model, texture, rig, light and animate game and film characters.” Basically, create games and animations.

The Skills Center, a program designed for advanced career and technical education, is for those who are high school juniors or at least 16 years old and has daily classes that meet every afternoon in addition to typical high school classes. There’s no charge for students who are accepted into Skills Center programs. And perhaps a chance to impress local game powerhouses Big Fish, PopCap, Nintendo, Microsoft and Valve.

Previously on GeekWire: Video game school picks Seattle Center for new campus

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