Carter Boggess, a sophomore from Lexington, is an electrical engineering major who is lighting up the competition. Literally.
Recently, Boggess was crowned the winner of the ACT Entertainment grand MA3 Programming contest, a lighting programming competition for college students across the country.
The grandMA3 show file developed by ACT Entertainment for this contest was available to contestants to download. Contestants were not allowed to change fixture types or alter fixture positions, but they were allowed to patch up to 12 additional fixtures of any type in any position. Only lighting fixtures could be added, no video content. Six songs were provided for contestants to select from. Carter chose “Runaway Baby” by Bruno Mars.
While working toward his degree, Boggess does part-time lighting design and programming work. His unique abilities and experience made him well-prepared to take home the grand prize — something that has not been achieved by an engineering student in previous years.
“They announced the winner while I was out at a conference in Las Vegas called LDI where a panel of highly respected professionals in the industry judged all the entries on site,“ Boggess said. “It was really cool to win, especially because they said they believed it was the first time an engineering student won first place.”
Carter's winning project can be viewed in full at https://academy.actentertainment.com/grandma3-programming-contest/1820203.