Esports Program

Funded Jan 12, 2024

Thank you so much for your generous donation to the Sturgeon Bay esports program.

I started this project back in 2019 as a casual video game club for my middle school students. I work in a rural district, so the idea of incorporating video games into our daily curriculum was met with some skepticism. Our school board approved the program, but I was not given a budget for equipment or games. Throw in a global pandemic, and we struggled to get this dream off the ground.

Over the last five years, I've scrapped together every monitor, TV, gaming console, and controller I could find at garage sales, Facebook marketplace, and thrift stores. I had a vision of what our esports lab could look like, and I was willing to put in the work to make it happen. Fast-forward five years, and we are one of the leading school districts in Northeastern Wisconsin when it comes to scholastic esports.

My video game club has 80 members and meets four times a week. It's a sort of sanctuary for some of our fringe students who don't have a connection anywhere else in our school.

Two years ago, I created a middle school intro to esports class. This past year, I earned a fellowship with the North American Scholastic Esports Federation (NASEF) to help make our class available for other middle schools across the country.

Your donation helped me purchase gaming PCs, high-end monitors, current-generation gaming consoles, and controllers for our esports program. The news spread quickly through our building, helping our program gain some much-needed attention and allowing us to expand our esports offerings. With the added equipment, I've been able to host five middle school esports teams and seven high school esports teams. My students have told me that the addition of the new equipment makes them feel like the staff at our school pays attention to what matters to them and makes them feel appreciated. They do a great job of keeping our gaming lab clean and take a lot of pride in our esports program.

My fall Smash Bros. team made the state playoffs, and my winter Rocket League team made the state quarterfinals. We are one of the most successful clubs in my district and are looking forward to adding more competitions next year.

This has been a labor of love for me and the best part of our esports program is that we are open to all students. Some of our most active members struggle academically, socially, and behaviorally during the school day, but once the consoles fire up and they get a controller in their hand, they become confident leaders who collaborate with their peers and celebrate each other success.

Thank you again for what you did for our students and our community.”

With gratitude,

Mr. Jacobson