What’s the deal with esports at Modesto City Schools?

Students of various backgrounds and ethnicities cheer, clapping loudly wearing their esports jerseys as they enter the esports gaming lab. Large-screen gaming computers with lighted keyboards that change colors every few seconds are turned on and prepped to start. Half the students put on headsets and grow quiet, trying to strategize to win a “League of Legends” game, while the other half are louder as they try to defeat their opponents in “Overwatch II.” The lab is filled with chatter and the constant tapping of keys.

These teenagers, along with students gaming in the 34 Modesto City Schools campuses, are among the approximately 1,750 participants in an esports program launched by the district in spring 2022.

Esports, short for electronic sports, is competitive video gaming and is rising in popularity among GenZ.

In October 2021, two students from Davis and Modesto high schools approached district administration about creating after-school esports clubs. Modesto City Schools’ Information and Educational Technology Services staff began researching gaming clubs, and the principals at Modesto and Davis found a couple of teachers at each site willing to be club advisers.

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