On October 14, 2019 Compton Unified School District launched an eSports Gaming Tournament and Career Exposure program. Over 200 students from all four CUSD high schools formed teams who weekly compete in the wildly popular Overwatch video game as well as learn direct from gaming experts about careers in the $1 billion industry.

Students participated in a survey that asked the top three reasons they decided to participate in the eSports Tournaments as well as their top three eSports careers of interest. The survey results highlighted that by and large, students are interested in getting college credit for online gaming course. Insofar as eSports careers the at most interest them, most said that they were interested in being video game testers.

The CUSD Overwatch eSports Tournament is running for six weeks and will culminate in top teams vying for bragging rights and prizes on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. Prizes include tickets for the winning team to attend a Chargers home game, a gamine accessories package from SteelSeries a VIP trip to meet with leading video game production designers, a CUSD eSports Championship ring, and a scholarship to attend a game design bootcamp.

The CUSD eSports program aims to develop students’ STEAM skills while reinforcing skills such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving. The eSports program also seeks to educate students about computer programming and the various career opportunities within the video game industry, while encouraging gameplay sportsmanship.

The Los Angeles Chargers is providing a $20,000 donation to supply team gear and support transportation for teams to practice, tournaments and career days. Several Chargers players also serve as honorary team captains at the tournaments, including wide receiver Geremy Davis, defensive tackle Justin Jones, defensive end Isaac Rochell and quarterback Tyrod Taylor.

The gaming tournament is managed by HighSchool.gg and coordinated by the Carrot Group. More information about the tournament can be found at: http://www.compton.k12.ca.us/esports

The top three answers from the survey results are below.

Top three reasons why students decided to participate:

#3  To learn more about careers in video game industry
#2  To compete in an eSports tournament
#1  To get college credit for an online Game Design course (!)

Top three eSports careers of interest:

#3  Software developer/computer programmer
#2  eSports competitor
#1  Video game tester