Over in El Paso, the Andress High School esports team is riding high on their recent victory, clinching the Texas Scholastic Esports Federation State Championship. Their win in Street Fighter 6 against rivals Amarillo AmTech Academy not only scored them the title but also bragging rights as the champs during Computer Science Education Week, highlighting El Paso ISD's push to beef up digital skills and prepping students for tech-savvy careers.
Only a few years back, what began merely as a small student gaming club at Andress High School, created by English instructor Adrian Sifuentes, has quickly grown to become a substantial esports program. The once-tabletop game-focused club evolved to include competitive gaming across various genres. It was during an interview, Sifuentes noted, "I’ve noticed that a lot of kids, who are not social, join this club, and later, I see how they changed and how they became more social and started making new friends," as per El Paso ISD.
Principal Ruben Alarcon, recognizing the club's potential, joined forces with Sifuentes and co-sponsor Brandon Hernandez to literally upgrade the club into a full-on esports program. Nowadays, the setup boasts high-performance gear, gaming chairs, and a dedicated lab designed just for gaming on campus. It's an all-welcome affair at Andress, with a diverse group of students from varying backgrounds and levels of gaming prowess joining in.
But it's not all just fun and games at the Andress esports program. Instructors are hell-bent on promoting the practical side too, teaching students much-needed life skills like teamwork, strategic problem-solving, and leadership. According to Sifuentes’s co-sponsor, Brandon Hernandez, "Academic responsibility" is a biggie as well, since "students must maintain good grades to participate." And it's not for nothing: competitive leagues, including the very one Andress just conquered, come with the bonus of potentially bagging scholarships and other accolades.
Those students who've thrown themselves into the thick of the esports world at Andress have found more than just a place to game. It's a community, a second home, where they cheer each other on through highs and lows, fostering a "supportive, family-like atmosphere," as obtained by El Paso ISD. For many, their intro to computer science started here, with esports syncing up perfectly with EPISD's goal to open doors to digital education and careers in game design, software engineering, and cybersecurity, among others.
