HONESTY BEATON

Honesty Beaton, a Junior at Fort Hays State University (FHSU), was selected as a recipient of the 2022 Timothy P. O’Shaughnessy Lifelong Learning Scholarship. As the oldest of three children born to Shyeva Shields, Honesty is majoring in Computer Science and is set to graduate in December 2025.

With a lifelong passion for technology, Honesty has always enjoyed helping her family members and friends with their technological issues, leading to an interest in computer programming. She wishes to become a programmer who specializes in software and game development. She hopes to make large-scale and small indie games that invoke feelings of comfort and happiness within players who will enjoy them timelessly. During her time at FHSU, Honesty took a specialized class called Video Game Creation, where she learned the fundamentals of game development using industry-standard tools such as Unity for core development, C# for scripting and programming, and SketchUp for 3D modeling. Honesty and her five other team members used these skills to create “Ace In Space”, a top-down, 3D, action-packed platformer game where you battle enemy bots and gather resources, fulfilling her dream of creating a small indie game.

Honesty also dreams of creating applications and software that help and connect people. Over the past year, Honesty has had the opportunity to work with FHSU Professor Dr. Gordon Carlson and the Institute for New Media Studies to develop “Realtime Video Underlay”, a software-based approach to traditionally hardware-based real-time sports graphics. Utilizing Unity, C#, and OpenCV, this project aims to enhance viewer engagement by providing dynamic and interactive graphics during sports broadcasts. This is done by real-time analysis of a video feed to “cut out” players, place them onto a virtual court, and underlay immersive visuals beneath them, allowing for the appearance of virtual visuals to physically exist beneath a player. Due to her research and work on Realtime Video Underlay, Honesty was awarded the New Media Research Scholarship by the Institute for New Media Studies for the 2024 – 2025 academic year. In August 2024, Honesty will become the first undergraduate Student Mixed Reality Developer at the Institute, a role typically reserved for graduate students, where she will continue to collaborate with Dr. Carlson on Realtime Video Overlay and other innovative projects.

Along with computer science and game design, Honesty has a passion for language learning and would like to become fluent in either American Sign Language or Japanese during her time in college. In her eyes, languages are the core building blocks that help connect people and cultures, and she wants to break down these barriers to form deeper connections with people. Honesty developed her passions by taking a diverse class list and honors classes in high school. Honesty took drawing and painting classes that further ignited her passion for digital art, which she continues to create in her free time. She has also taken computer programming classes which further strengthened her passion for technology as she loves troubleshooting issues with her coding and successfully creating small applications.

At East High School, Honesty made a lasting positive impact on her teachers and peers. She was a Student Ambassador at the East High College and Career Center, assisting Ms. Cammie Kennedy with incoming students and their college inquiries while mentoring other students on their future career and college plans. This dedication to helping others continues at FHSU, where she looks forward to new experiences and overcoming challenges.

Honesty is excited for the future ahead of her and the path she will pave. She looks forward to the new experiences she will gain, challenges she will overcome, and eventually traveling internationally. Honesty aspires to help others while leaving a lasting impact on those around her, upholding the characteristics and values Timothy has consistently shown. Honesty looks forward to the journey ahead of her and is immensely grateful to the Timothy P. O’Shaughnessy Foundation.