In our modern day society, video games can take us students on a career path never imagined. Unfortunately for us students in the Weber School District, They banned a lot of the games being played in esports because they had guns. This is what I want to change. We need to lift the ban that prevents games with guns from being a school esport. There are a lot of benefits and very few downsides to being a student athlete on an esports team. There are college opportunities, relationships being built, and even job opportunities in the future.

     Scholarships are very important in today's society.  This is mainly because tuition is so expensive. In the past, the only way to get a scholarship was to either be really smart or be really good at a sport. For most students, getting a scholarship is required to be able to go to college. Luckily, This is a problem esports can help solve. Most colleges will give scholarships to students that they want on their collegiate esports team. To get recognized by a college, all students have to do is play well on their esports team. But how in the world are we supposed to do that if the games we play are banned? All we need to do is lift the ban, and many more students will get scholarships to college.

When videogames were first getting popular, there was a stereotype that people who played video games were simply lazy people who sat in their room all day and had no friends. To be honest here, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Almost every game in school esports is a team based game. To win these games, the most important traits a team needs is good teamwork and communication, both of which can be used later in life. Through every practice, scrimmage, and game, students develop better relationships with teammates and coaches. Students come together with a common interest and become great friends, all because of a simple video game. But we can’t do this unless there is a reason to come together, for example an esports team.

Some people think that the only job in the video game industry is going pro and being the best of the best. But let’s face it, that’s not true at all. There are so many job opportunities that go into the video game industry. To name a couple, there is coaching, filming, streaming, announcing, and even developing the games themselves! But to get these kinds of jobs, students need to put themselves out there and see what they enjoy. School esports are the perfect way to do this! With everyone in the industry sharing a common interest, students can get the help and mentoring they need to succeed at what they want to do in life.

As you can clearly see by now, I am very passionate about this topic. I’m not just doing this for myself, I’m doing this for every student who wants to play school esports. We want to be able to show and compete at what we are good at! We need to have our school support us and what we want to do in life. Let us play, and we can get our school some bragging rights. It’s a win-win for everyone! Schools are supposed to inspire us to be whatever we want to be in life, but right now, they’re not. That needs to change right here and right now. Let’s support every student and give them what they need to thrive in life. Thank you.

If you have any questions, you can email me at markerbr2@wsdstudent.net Or you can talk to me while I am streaming at Twitch.tv/magicmarkerow.