Recent Parker graduate Avery Bedows ‘15 is, in many ways, a typical Parker graduate. The twenty-year-old enjoys socializing, computer programming, and working out, and he spends a considerable amount of time in coffee houses. What sets Bedows apart from the pack — and especially the not old enough to drink alcohol pack — is his occupation as the CEO and co-founder of Altar, a virtual reality and augmented reality start-up in Palo Alto, CA.

After attending Pomona College in Southern California for a year, Bedows took a leave of absence to pursue a passion for which he had been laying the groundwork since high school. Per school policy, Bedows is permitted a two-year leave of absence from Pomona before reapplication is mandated.

Altar’s software is far-reaching, boasting advantages and applicability for schools, homes, and the workplace. Through both virtual and augmented reality programs, Altar seeks to take advantage of the human being’s natural predisposition to spatial learning by enabling thoughts and memories to be shared in a more compatible medium.

Bedows said, “Our notion is that of a knowledge-based spatial document which doesn’t only feel good to learn because everyone likes visual information, but, we’re in the process of proving, makes learning easier as well.” The “spatial document” is a sort of three-dimensional space which can be built within Altar’s programs and populated with media which allows for comprehensive idea sharing.

Imagine the virtual reality document, or “show,” as a collection of virtual bubbles that can hold text, pictures, videos, and other pieces of information. Because of natural human tendencies in spatial learning, being able to see the bubbles in three-dimensional space and understand the connections between sections allows for complex ideas and memories to be communicated and externalized in ways which cannot be mirrored through writing or video.

“Altar Show” is further imagined as a presentation tool with uses that can be likened to that of an expanded and more exciting PowerPoint.

In the future Altar aims to maintain a “marketplace” of shows — accessible and established content available to all users for viewing and edification. The collection of media would ideally span a wide range, touching on class curriculum, job training, converted scientific articles, and more.

Bedows credits Parker with helping to ignite his passion for human communication and personal connection. Bedows said, “The best thing about the Parker education, with respect to this, is the degree to which it formalized or clarified consideration for other people.”

School Counselor Binita Donohue believes that Bedows has fully internalized Parker’s dogma. Donahue said, “He, in some ways, to me, embodies exactly what Parker is trying to create as a student.” Donohue and Bedows never shared time in the classroom, instead becoming acquainted through frequent hallway discussions.

“During our conversations, it would always be him passing by in the hallway and, while in my mind I’d say, ‘You have to get somewhere, go!’, there was always another part of me that wanted to pause,” Donahue said, “because I knew that something really fun, meaningful, purposeful, and joyful would happen if I stayed and had a discussion.”

Bedows cites Parker’s Social Entrepreneurship and American Literature classes as being sources of his current endeavors. Bedows developed the idea for Altar’s precursor with a small group as his final project in Social Entrepreneurship, later going on to code and formally give life to the project. The application, EduSlate, is available on the iOS App Store.

American Literature also played a role in Bedows’s concern for personal relationships and prosperity. “Parker totally put my priorities in order — on human interaction and well-being,” Bedows said. “I think Parker does wonders for people skills and the ability to sit down with someone and have a meaningful conversation and ask good questions, which is critical for both personal and business relationships.”

One such relationship Bedows formed was with Josh Ortiz, recent Pomona graduate and Cognitive Science major. After meeting because of their mutual interest in virtual reality, Ortiz and Bedows co-founded Altar and now spend time researching the psychology and general scientific principles which drive the company’s software development.

“The hippocampus, the part of your brain which is known for dealing with memory, is heavily involved with navigation and space,” Ortiz said. “With the invention of paper, cell phones, and laptops, all sorts of information got pigeonholed into a two-dimensional interface, but now we have the tools, courtesy of virtual reality and augmented reality, to put those tools back in a three dimensional, spatial setting.”

Altar released “Altar Show” to the Steam store on August 23, making their software free to any users with an HTC Vive Virtual Reality Headset with support for the Oculus Rift. An augmented reality app for smartphones is set to follow soon. Tutorials and samples will be available within the application, guiding users to the ultimate goal of creating their own shows. Content is able to be imported, exported, saved, and shared, as Altar aims to begin building a community of users.