Forget Worksheets. These HMS Students Built Their Own Games Instead.

At Houston Middle School, learning sometimes looks like a courtroom. Sometimes it looks like a Shark Tank pitch. And sometimes? It looks like a cafeteria full of students battling dragons, solving mysteries, negotiating rules, and testing board games they designed completely from scratch.

Welcome to the annual HMS Game Expo.

The long-running tradition takes place inside the school’s gifted WIN classes, short for “What I Need,” where students dive into enrichment-based, project-driven learning experiences designed to stretch creativity and critical thinking. Led by veteran educator Ms. Alicia Breen, the class has become known for turning middle school learning into something students genuinely cannot wait to do.

“The kids are given an assignment to create their own board game,” Breen explained. “They create the rules, they create the board, most of the time they even create the pieces that they use.”

The results are wildly creative.

Some games are simple and approachable. Others are so elaborate they require deep strategy and complex thinking. One featured a faith-based theme. Another was so intricate that even after playing it, Breen admitted she was still trying to fully understand all the rules.

But the project is about far more than cardboard and game pieces.

Students first test their games in class, learning how to revise instructions, troubleshoot mechanics, and respond to peer feedback before showcasing their final creations during the expo. And according to Breen, middle schoolers are not exactly known for sugarcoating feedback.

“They’re brutal sometimes with their feedback,” she laughed. “But a lot of times they say, ‘Oh gosh, this is a really great game.’”

The best moment often comes when students realize other people genuinely enjoy something they invented.

“One of the kids wanted to take the game home over the weekend so their family could play it,” Breen said. “It’s great for them to see something they created and other people enjoy it.”

The Game Expo is just one example of the hands-on opportunities happening inside Houston Middle’s WIN classes. Throughout the year, students also participate in mock trials, business and entrepreneurship projects, and Shark Tank-style presentations where community leaders serve as judges. During the mock trial unit, students take on roles as attorneys, witnesses, and defendants before visiting a real criminal courtroom downtown.

“It’s hands-on,” Breen said when asked why projects like these resonate so strongly with students. “Sometimes students hear the word ‘project’ and groan, but once they get into it, they realize, ‘Oh my goodness, this is fun, and I’m learning a lot.’”

And after nearly three decades at Houston Middle School, Breen has watched generations of students discover passions and confidence through experiences just like these. Some former students have even returned to GMSD as teachers themselves.

For Houston Middle students, the Game Expo may look like fun and games on the surface.

But underneath the dice rolls, game cards, and competition, something much bigger is happening: creativity, collaboration, communication, problem-solving, and the kind of joyful learning students remember long after middle school ends.