For Derek Kessler ’26, creativity has never lived in just one lane. A member of the Viewpoint community since Kindergarten, Kessler has spent the last 13 years discovering how his passions in film, STEM, and athletics don’t compete with one another, but instead fuel each other.

“I always like to combine my passions,” Kessler said. “At Viewpoint, I’m able to use skills from all over the place and bring them together into a film or a game.”

Kessler is currently enrolled in Film IV and Documentary, where he is working on a project centered on the cross country season alongside three teammates. He is also developing a personal short film, “The Real Love Cafe,” which follows a character who goes on a date with a robot. The project merges storytelling with engineering, as Kessler is building the robot himself through his engineering class.

“Having the engineering background allows me to make my films more believable,” Kessler said. “It helps break the barrier between what feels like a student film and something that really pulls you into the world of the story.”

Beyond film, Kessler has been programming video games since Third Grade, beginning with Scratch, a beginner-friendly coding platform, and later teaching himself the Unity game engine in Middle School.

“I’m working on a game called ‘Snow Games,’ where polar bears are on a snowy landscape and you throw snowballs at each other,” Kessler said. “You can build forts, dig trenches in the snow, and protect a campfire.”

Kessler credits his coursework in physics, calculus, computer science, and engineering with strengthening his game development skills.

“All of my STEM classes at Viewpoint have helped me on this journey,” Kessler said.

Alongside his work in film and game development, Kessler is a dedicated member of the cross country and track teams, which he plans to continue with in college. This fall, Kessler will attend Chapman University, where he will major in film and television production with an emphasis in cinematography while competing in cross country and track.

“I want to learn how to tell stories better,” he said. “No matter what path I take, studying film will help me do that.”