High school students are learning from esports, and teachers are starting to notice.
Esports continues to define itself as a legitimate sport through sold-out arenas and a thriving community, but the sport is now being looked at as a legitimate career path by Arizona high schools. One high school has invested in an esports arena in the middle of its campus.
New Way Academy and American Leadership Academy Applied Technologies have invested in the sport to better their students in distinct ways — to build community and motivation, while also improving skills that can be applied in future careers.
Devin Howe is the technology program coordinator at American Leadership Academy Applied Technologies. He leads the Esports Club on campus. as well as its curriculum.
"We actually call those Gaming Careers," Howe said. "They learn about all the different aspects of technology, from the programming to the running the events to the networking to the game designs, creating the games themselves. And so it was a very good hand in hand with what we were already doing here on the campus."
The American Leadership Academy invested nearly half a million dollars into their esports program, Howe said. He said the arena and the program associated with it is meant to get students interested in esports as a legitimate career path, focusing more on the information technology aspect of the industry.
"We wanted to get the best for our students, and we wanted to show the community for the school that we were very serious about the things that we were doing here and so we were putting our money where our mouth is," Howe said.
Howe said the goal is to get students ready for internships before they graduate. The programs are new within ALA, but they also plan to continue to explore everything related to gaming — from computer science to cybersecurity.
The revenue in esports is expected to reach $4.8 billion by the end of 2025, according to Statista. The U.S. is also the leading country in revenue for the esports market.
Because of this, scholarships are also an attainability for many students who are interested in professional esports.
According to Scholarships.com, there are "over 250 varsity esports programs in the U.S."
Students play games on computers in the classroom, but behind the arena is a room made solely for console play. The esports team on campus plays Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and other games using consoles like the Nintendo Switch.
Trey Robinson, a junior, said esports has helped him learn how to improve, especially in regard to his future aspirations of studying business.
"A lot of it is it helps work with teamwork, like understanding," Robinson said. "When you do need help from others, take advice. And something that does help is being able to adapt."
William Menos, a junior, says the installation of the arena has helped allow the team to be comfortable in their own space.
"It makes us feel better, makes us feel like there's something bigger than us here," Menos said.
ALA’s arena was also home to a memorable moment for another school — New Way Academy’s first ever state championship win.
New Way Academy is a school that assists students who have difficulty learning in a traditional school environment. The academy finished its second season with the Canyon Athletics Association’s esports program in late 2024.
In December, 2024, the esports team won New Way Academy its first state championship for a sports program ever — after students Isaac Schwartz, Jack Schneider and Landon Priest took home a win in a Super Smash Bros Ultimate tournament.
Schwartz is a current senior, and he said the moment was special for him because he played the winning point. He said he was high on adrenaline, but this was partly because of what happened to the team in their last season.
"We made it to the finals and we lost," Schwartz said. "We kicked ourselves around about it after we lost, and we took a lot of time to practice, and so the fact that all that practice paid off, in the end meant a lot to us in this final."
Schneider, a current senior, said his experience with the team since its inception has given him the ability to teach others about esports.
"We're trying to be there to help them out and just listening to the feedback and help them win games," Schneider said. "Some of them even started coaching each other within their teams. It's pretty cool."
For their upcoming season, Lupe Lugo, a junior high teacher and the team’s coach, said he believes they will have 18 players, a 12-person increase from their winning seaslupeon.
New Way Academy is investing into a new room for their esports as well. Lugo calls it their "media room."
"We ended up building a TV specifically for our esports team, put it on the wall, having a room dedicated for esports, so you can see the impact it has," Lugo said.
Lugo also said the past team’s players were “coaches” for last year’s season and hopes to see that behavior in future teams.
"Isaac, Jack and Landon … would give them advice, coach them up, because overall, you want to see them do the best and just support them," Lugo said.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A photo caption in this story has been modified to correctly identify the coaches.
