A LETTER TO PARENTS

First, thank you so much for your time, your patience, your interest in supporting your child’s passion! Your support--and your child's support--make clubs like ours possible. Whereas most parents would hear “esports” and presume them socially vapid, you are taking a role in a growing industry within education. Esports are games, yes, but they are also part of a growing community of leaders and players in high schools and college communities, not only across the country, but all over the world, focusing on teamwork, leadership, and tech career pathways. Esports are a truly inclusive school sport, diversity being organic to gaming, and important to our program and school. Any student, regardless their age, gender, physical limitations, or learning challenges, participates with a team. This is also why college programs have embraced esports.

College esports continue expanding. High schools are late in keeping up with the demand. Esports are a $1.5 billion dollar industry with anticipated growth to $3 billion by 2023. As of 2019, the viewership has already surpassed the MLB, NBA, and NHL. Esports will be a featured Olympic event in 2023 at the Asian games. Over 200 colleges, several of these in California, now have professional or club esports programs offering scholarships and college pathways for students. At Salinas High, we are building a program for that student community. While once a laughable idea, gaming provides STEAM and technical pathway opportunities for talented students who may want to pursue professional gaming, tech, or engineering. It makes sense as high schools cultivate esports programs that Salinas High School lead the herd, being first in our district to participate in competitive esports across multiple teams under a single moniker, the Night Hawks: cowboys who drew the short straw to work through the long nights, watching over the herd and sleeping cowboys. It was a natural choice for our scholar gamers! Often, you see esports teams choosing a mascot similar or in line with their school mascot, rather than using the school’s official mascot, as a means to nurture individual team spirit while still maintaining part of the overall thriving school community. It is also out of respect to traditional sports.

As SHS Night Hawks, your sons and daughters will participate in matches against other schools—private, charter, and public—through one or more leagues dedicated to fostering play in a safe, monitored environment. There are colleges monitoring these matches through ranked systems and Twitch, a video streaming platform our students use to stream their games and practices, allowing increased viewership and an opportunity to listen in on play. That includes recruiters! Matches will place our teams in brackets, each win a shot at a final championship game where, if successful, students can win prizes and college scholarship funding. This is why it is crucial your children be allowed to attend their regularly scheduled practices to plan strategies, learning the ins and outs of play together for their league matches and working on their positions in play.  It is important to the teams and your individual son or daughter that they be allowed to hold their practices and make their games, as there are tangible prizes and funding at stake. In order to facilitate equity and participation, the Night Hawks have paid to cover any SHS students representing the school, thanks to long hours of fundraising by its members. Please work with your son or daughter to negotiate match and practice schedules, as they are important to the team, and we will ensure you have notice for official matches.

I thank you for your time, your patience, your understanding as we wade into new digital waters together, building something new and exciting for our students here at Salinas High. Hopefully soon, as we continue fundraising towards our moonshot goal of an esports lab to support students, we will have a space for shoutcasters, streamers, graphic artists, and general content creators. Equity must be our primary concern for students in our community! For and further inquires, email me with your questions at nicholas.perry@salinasuhsd.org. 

Go Cowboys! Go Night Hawks!

Kind Regards,

Nicholas Perry

English 11 Instructor

SHS Night Hawks Program Advisor