Feb. 5, 2025 was a landmark day for Priory. We recognized our first esports scholarship, earned by Andrew Broder of the class of 2025. He will be competing close by at Maryville University. In recent years, esports has emerged as a significant cultural and economic force, captivating millions of fans worldwide. While traditionally associated with professional gaming leagues and large-scale tournaments, eSports is increasingly finding its way into educational institutions, including high schools. MSHSAA is actually closer to adopting esports in their repertoire than Hockey, Lacrosse and Ultimate! These feed the more than 130 college varsity esports programs around the country which reach all the way up to the Ivy league (University of Pennsylvania).
Despite having lots of potential advantages for schools and their students, many parents and teachers worry about the potential for distraction amongst students, not understanding how organized esports attempts to eliminate these issues while promoting various benefits for students. In fact, esports is known to help enhance student engagement and motivation, encourage a sense of community, promote technical literacy, develop valuable skills for the workforce, and create opportunities for students to receive scholarships and prepare for careers after college.
An esports program excels in its ability to engage students who might not be interested in traditional sports or extracurricular activities to compete in a competitive, team-based activity. esports can capture the attention of students who are passionate about gaming, providing them with a platform to pursue their interests in a structured and supportive environment. This increased engagement can lead to higher levels of motivation and enthusiasm for school activities as this enjoyment happens within a school setting, fostering a more inclusive and dynamic school culture. Unlike passive activities, such as watching television, esports requires active participation, engagement and communication on a team of individuals who have to coordinate their efforts and implement strategies to succeed.
Esports can bring students together, fostering a sense of community and belonging in much the same way that traditional sports can. It may seem strange to adults, but students watch gamers in much the same way one might watch athletes on TV. For example, who hasn’t googled a YouTube video of your favorite athlete’s greatest plays? Everybody glazes somebody, am I right? The main difference between esports and traditional sports is that it is possible for someone as far down as 6th grade to be the school’s leader in an esports domain. As more schools in our area adopt esports programs, it will eventually become a differentiator for admissions as students not only choose schools for the ability to participate in eSports but to cheer on the more successful programs.
It is also in competition that esports provides more opportunities for our student body to test their mettle against others. Students who might not excel in physical sports but who still want to compete in something at Priory are basically limited to Robotics, Mock Trial and Scholar Bowl. These are all very important types of competitions but they don’t exactly help a student’s street cred. However, being able to scope a guy at 200 yards is something even a star quarterback would offer a high five for. Don’t worry, few people over the age of 30 understand what I just said. Ultimately, what I’m saying here is that creating more opportunities for our students to compete and be successful in competition is a positive thing for the student body and this school as a whole.
Technical literacy is a skill that will be crucial in tomorrow’s workforce. As Robotics and AI continue to mature, more and more careers will find themselves limited in scope. Those who understand how to leverage technology will be better placed to succeed in tomorrow’s economy. Students who participate in esports are generally more proficient in technical literacy, understanding how technology works. In addition to promoting technical literacy, esports practices important skills for students. Strategic and creative thinking, collaboration through teamwork and quick decision making are also all traits of a successful esports athletes. I admit, on the surface it doesn’t look all that valuable but this really is wax-on, wax-off (for you kids, that’s a Karate Kid reference so that the other boomers know what I’m talking about).
Finally, there’s the real reason many families send their kids to Priory for: getting into the best higher education institution possible. As educators and formers of young men, I know a lot of us teachers and administrators wish this were not true, but the reality is that many families send their sons to Priory for that reason, with formation and even knowledge playing second-fiddle to getting into the best possible school for the least amount of money. As an institution, we pay homage to our athletes for securing cheaper higher education through athletic pursuits. We celebrate students spending lots of hours outside of school practicing a sport knowing they’re doing it to improve their prospects for college so why aren’t we doing the same for eSports, whose scholarships are booming. Scholarships to esports programs have been roughly doubling year over year since the late 2010’s with Harrisburg University being the first to offer full rides in 2017. While the project was just recently canceled, Maryville University, where Andrew will be playing, was close to breaking ground on a 3000 seat eSports arena. Yeah, let that sink in.
A lot of my fellow teachers have valid concerns that students engaging in esports will not focus as much on their studies. I feel that this could be a valid concern if an esports program were implemented without valid controls. Successful esports programs monitor student grades much in the same way that student-athletes are not able to participate in their sport if they have poor grades or fail a test. If we were to require students to red-shirt, they would be able to build up a year’s worth of grades at Priory before being allowed to participate in esports. After that first year, falling below that average GPA could result in temporary suspension from esports activities. This would actually lead to students making sure that their studies are taken care of by linking gaming to academic success. Second, in a small school like ours, being able to field capable athletic teams is always a challenge but implementation of an esports program wouldn’t actually hurt our ability to field competitive teams. In fact, by helping improve admissions to the school and by limiting participation appropriately, an esports program would more likely result in more students available for on-field athletics.
In all likelihood, esports will have to become a part of Priory’s future. I argue that it’s best to get ahead of it and make sure that we are able to implement it in a way that blends it into our other activities here.
