Actually, we DID come here to play! A diverse panel of women including two college students, a games industry powerhouse, and an educational leader demonstrate how early experiences in game development propel a new class of creators across all STEM fields. Centering student voices, this panel highlights how creative technology pedagogy in an after-school game design program, complete with coding, animation, storytelling, and music, led students to pursue multidisciplinary college degrees—with students sharing their college STEM journey and the power of play for deep learning.