From Nature Lover to Esports Advocate: How Gaming Can Give Students a Sense of Belonging

I’m an outdoor enthusiast. I backpack miles into the mountains, spend the night on the ground, and do it all again the next day - for fun. And because it’s good for my soul. I’m also a farm girl. I sold my first cow to buy my first car. Video games were never a part of my childhood. In fact, I always thought that video games were what “those city kids” did because they had “nothing productive to do.”

During my first eleven years as a science teacher, my passion was to get kids outside. I built a school/community garden, developed a fishing program, taught wilderness survival skills, took students camping, and came up with any excuse I could to get kids in nature - to get them “outside for a better inside.”

I’m still passionate about outdoor education. The discovery, critical thinking, relationship building, and emotional healing that occur when students are engaged with nature is powerful. But now, I find myself just as passionate about something that I never imagined would captivate me: introducing scholastic video gaming and esports into schools. As someone who finds solace and joy in the wild, who learned the value of hard work on a farm, and who once dismissed video games as a distraction, my journey into the world of scholastic esports might seem like an unexpected one.

In 2016, I was working at a small alternative high school in Kansas. The principal and one of the best leaders I know, Dr. Kristy Custer, encouraged her staff to pursue passion projects that they felt would be beneficial for our students. Our social studies teacher, Dr. Michael Russell, said that he wanted to develop an esports team for our alternative high school students, who tended to not be involved in sports or extracurriculars, to give them a place to belong. “Cool,” I thought. I figured that there were some students who would definitely benefit from that.  I never anticipated the profound impact it would have—not just on the students, but on me as well.

Our school was a refuge for students who felt like outcasts, who didn’t fit into the conventional mold of the educational system. They were often disillusioned with school and had lost hope in their futures. But when the esports team was introduced, something extraordinary happened. These students, who had never felt a sense of belonging, suddenly had a place where they fit in. They became part of a team, part of our school’s identity. Students who had never shown an ounce of school spirit began wearing school colors, donning team jerseys, and expressing pride in their school on social media.

But Mike and Kristy, who are now in leadership at Generation Esports, didn’t stop at just forming an esports team. They integrated the concept of esports into our academic curriculum. By weaving esports into subjects like writing, entrepreneurship, digital skills, and math, they transformed the classroom experience. Subjects that students once dreaded became engaging and exciting. Students who had never connected with school began to see themselves as scholars, making the connection that “I’m good at scholastic gaming, scholastic gaming is part of school, therefore, I’m good at school.” Our first-hour esports-themed academic course boasted an average attendance rate of over 90%—that’s for a first hour class at an alternative high school. Unheard of. Students were making career connections as well, discovering that the esports industry has a myriad of jobs in everything from coding to marketing. Students who had never considered college as an option were looking into universities - and receiving esports-based scholarships!

Hope is a powerful thing. A student without hope feels that they are without purpose. For students who have been marginalized and made to feel that they don’t belong, scholastic gaming and esports can be a beacon of hope. While I still believe in the transformative power of the outdoors, I now also believe in the transformative power of esports. It’s not just about gaming; it’s about giving students a sense of belonging, a reason to engage with their education, and hope for their futures. It’s about helping them discover that they are capable, that they have a place in this world, and that they can succeed. And that, to me, is just as soul-nourishing as a night under the stars.