That’s why she hooked up with her tech-savvy peers at Xavier High School’s innovative Digital Incubator.

“I write a lot of poems and short stories and I’ve tried to draw too but I’m not great at it,” Ellie, 14, said.

“I started coming to the incubator early this year and a group of us is now working on an animation for my poem.”

Ivy O’Halloran, 13, has not yet missed a weekly lunchtime incubator since they started in late 2016.

“I love technology and digital programs,” she said.

“A friend introduced me to retro games like Pac-Man when I was about eight.

“I like working with high-tech graphics and I’d like to design games one day.”

Ellie and Ivy are collaborating with Jacob Tants, 14, and Suzy Plummer, 16, to make an animation for Ellie’s poem at the incubator. Suzy has produced a professional-looking story board. 

Both the founder of the incubator and the school counsellor, Anthony Perrone said there was a misconception that tech-savvy students were introverted, shy, recluse or didn’t interact with their peers.

Dr Perrone said that a person who liked soccer trained on a field with their peers, where their actions could be seen out in the open.

He said those interested in digital art, games development or software design often worked in isolation, which might look like anti-social behavioural patterns.

“But they are not introverted, they have no behavioural problems; their training ground is simply a laptop,” Dr Perrone said.

“We need to provide those individuals with a practice field, space or incubators, where they too can train, play, collaborate and congregate with like-minded people.”

Dr Perrone said about 15 to 20 students turned up to the incubator during lunchtime every Thursday.

“It’s not a class; we’re just a facility for like-minded people,” he said.

“We might say: ‘Here’s a competition, here’s a cause or here’s a project’.”

The Australian games industry is made up of about 40 companies employing up to 700 people.

Half of the national industry is in Melbourne with another major centre in Queensland and a few companies in other states. Melbourne has a 20-year history in computer game development. 

Dr Perrone said he hoped the Digital Incubator would be a long-term project at the school.

He planned to approach universities and other professionals next term to nut out possible collaborations and mentors.

“Xavier students form the nexus of this program with invitation possibly going out to other secondary school students in the future,” he said.