One of my favorite things to do after school when I was your age was play video games. I used to rush home to fire up my Playstation 3 and play Madden almost every day, and I’m sure many of you do the same, but you probably play games like Fortnite and Super Smash Brothers. This week’s A+ Award winners took their gaming to the next level and even put their skills, and knowledge of gaming on display, at last month’s Ohio Educational Technology Conference held in Columbus.
On the first day of the conference, which is for teachers, administrations, and technology staff, the eSports teams from Buchtel CLC, from Akron, and Akron STEM High School took part in a playground session. The playground sessions give presenters the opportunity to demonstrate a skill or technique and have conversations with conference participants about what they’re doing.
The eSports teams brought their consoles and monitors along and set up gaming stations where they demonstrated Super Smash Brothers. While they were playing, a few of them spoke with conference participants about their experiences on their schools eSports teams. Many of the conference participants were interested in starting eSports teams at their own schools and found the insights from current eSports team members to be very valuable.
The gamers got to talk about both of their competitive seasons, one that takes place in the fall, and the other that takes place in the winter. They even described what the competitions are like and how they set up their practice schedules.
The gaming teams explained to us that participating in eSports gave them the opportunity to show off their skills and to even compete for state championships! The conference attendees told us that it was great to hear an eSports participant's perspective on the topic and how important the experiences have been.
Here’s a big shout out to the Buchtel CLC Griffins and the Akron STEM High School Eagles gamers for advocating for eSports at the technology conference. Congratulations on your A+ Award. Let me know if you want me to play any games with you next time!
