Colton, CA—Last Saturday, video gamers across CJUSD united for a day of food, fun . . . and games!
On Aug. 17, the Colton Joint Unified School District’s Information Technology department, in partnership with the San Bernardino County Office of Education, held their first ever eSports event at the district board room. The eSports Kickoff is the first of what the district hopes will be multiple events this year that celebrate gaming and eSports.
Over 100 students from K-12 were at the event to participate in tournaments involving Nintendo games “Super Mario Kart” and “Super Smash Bros.” Gameplay was determined by official game ratings, with only middle school and high school students allowed to participate in the “Rated 10+” “Smash Bros.” tournament.
Several students from Colton High participated in the event. Senior Lewis Bacaneri got quite a surprise when he found himself squaring off against his freshman brother, Derek, in the Super Smash Brothers tournament final.
In the “Mario Kart” tournament, the winner was a fifth grade student from Paul J. Rogers elementary school.
Other activities at the event included a podcast studio, in which students were given the opportunity to take the microphone and talk about the event and gaming in general as part of an upcoming district podcast. Colton High freshman Lucian Nelson-Guthrie was particularly taken with this station, and was strong enough on the mic that organizers asked him to walk around and interview other students in between matches.
While video game competitions have been a mainstay across the world since the advent of the gaming format in 1972, the eSports boom has been strong since the late 2000s. Colton High School started its first eSports team as part of the Gaming Club in 2022, and has since began participating is CIF-sanctioned events. According to district Chief Technology Officer, Jamal Boyce, there are now a number of silos, or clubs for gaming and eSports, across the school district.
“A lot of people believe eSports is just gaming,” said Jamal Boyce, district Chief Technology Officer, “but you can tie in everything across the curriculum—designing, storytelling, public speaking, confidence. It is not just playing a game for fun.”
