McKinley eSports Continues To Expand!

Team gets a new assistant coach as competition heats up locally and nationally

By Tyler Smith, Head Coach, eSports

The McKinley High School eSports Team has seen much growth and success so far this spring season. The team welcomes Jarod Siekman, Quantitative Reasoning teacher for the high school, as their assistant coach. Thanks to his help, they are now open every day of the week after school. Now students, no matter their schedule, may come in any day of the week to represent McKinley in competitive video gaming, and explore different games to find out what interests them.

There is exciting news regarding the state of eSports in Ohio. The OHSAA has recently partnered with eSports Ohio, the organization that oversees and sanctions all competitive video gaming in Ohio, allowing for more recognition and growth of eSports programs throughout the state. This means that eSports is just one step closer to being an officially sanctioned sport, recognized by all public schools in Ohio.

This Spring season, McKinley High School is competing in Valorant,

Rocket League, and Minecraft, and new to this season is Overwatch 2. In the past, they have competed in various other titles, and each season some of the games offered have changed. The team now competes in two separate leagues as well. The first league is eSports Ohio, which is a state league, structured very similarly to our state leagues in traditional sports. The second league is High School eSports League, which is a much larger national league. They are competing against local schools in one league, and schools across the country in the other league. All four varsity teams are off to very strong starts as they transition into the end of the regular season. Every varsity team is in good standing to qualify for playoffs in one or both of the leagues they are in.

McKinley eSports had two field trips planned in March. Players had the opportunity to participate in leadership training and show off their gaming skills to college eSports recruiters, receive scholarship offers, and play on the number two team t Continued From Page 1 Academic Challenge (and other highlights from ECMS!)

“At the beginning of the season, they were committed to showing opponents what they’re made of. The kids definitely had something to prove,” he said.

The team began practicing diligently in November.

“It was always lively, yet serious, with the students focused on defeating their next opponent! The young people’s commitment is incredible because they are involved in numerous extra-curricular activities, all while being classroom and community leaders,” Cole said. “I am so proud of them! The team worked extremely hard to accomplish its goals. It is an honor to be their teacher and coach!”

Next, I would like to highlight a project that our 7th grade social studies teachers presented. They have been discussing the history of democracy in class. What better way to learn about how democracy works than to see it in action? Students researched different types of leaders and what qualities a leader should have. This has led to each of the Canton mayoral candidates coming to speak to a group of our 7th graders about their platform and why they are running for mayor. Students will next write a persuasive essay on who they think will be the best person to be the next mayor and the reasons why. It is great to see our students involved in the process and a huge thank you to the candidates for coming to speak.

Finally, I would like to inform families that as a school we are participating in The Great Kindness Challenge here at ECMS. Big thanks to Ms. Gaylord and her students as well as our student council for spearheading this. Below is a link explaining the challenge.

We will be collecting change during lunch each day to contribute to this “Kind Coins for Our Earth” project. We are asking if you have any spare change you can give to your student to donate, it would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Coins for Our Earth

A Great Kindness Challenge Service Project in the nation’s gaming equipment. They also competed in Malone University’s RocketSmash Tournament. (Results were not available when this issue went to press.)

Last year they placed 2nd in this tournament, and are hopeful to win this year. You can follow the team weekly at McKinley_eSports on Twitch.tv. https://youtu.be/MbATfAPhsrg