The event series will take place on April 5, 6, 11 and 12 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at GRPS’ Ottawa Hills High School, 2055 Rosewood Ave SE. Jones will also teach students about game design, content creation, name-image-likeness (NIL), digital currency, podcasting and “just how they can truly capitalize on the esports industry.”Jones said […]
The event series will take place on April 5, 6, 11 and 12 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at GRPS’ Ottawa Hills High School, 2055 Rosewood Ave SE. Jones will also teach students about game design, content creation, name-image-likeness (NIL), digital currency, podcasting and “just how they can truly capitalize on the esports industry.”Jones said the goal is to provide students with new opportunities through financial education and exposure to careers through online industries like cryptocurrency. “We intentionally selected a location that will offer some other activities for youth as well,” he said. “Including our recording studio at Ottawa Hills High School and some other board games… educational opportunities and reading clubs.” A program flyer lists esports activities open to 50 students at a time. Johnson said the district is not yet sure many students will be able to participate in the program, as there will be more activities offered than only esports.The event series is being funded with a ,000 grant received by Jones through the city of Grand Rapids. Larry Johnson, the district’s director of public safety, said the esports events are part of a larger student safety initiative held at Ottawa Hills High School during spring break, which runs from Friday, April 4 to Friday, April 11. “Students are just excited to learn,” Jones said. “I think that they’re going to be excited about the initiative itself, but also the education side.” Jones said he’s been advocating for esports for seven years now, after seeing the positive impact it can have on students. “It’s an opportunity for kids who have an interest in cyber activities, cyber sports, computer programming (or) computer software,” Johnson said. “I see young kids or scholars who may not be in your traditional athletic programs, but get involved in after-school programming in a different way that engages them.” Students can earn a prize of up to ,000 for competing in Fortnite, an online gaming platform, and can learn about game design from its developer Epic Games. It will be open to students 13 and older across the GRPS district, and will allow participants to try their hand at online gaming, game design, content creation and podcasting. Want more Grand Rapids-area news? Bookmark the local Grand Rapids news page or sign up for the free “3@3 Grand Rapids” daily newsletter.The program is a collaboration with Jump Ahead L3C, a West Michigan nonprofit aimed at “empowering and educating the young adults in the Grand Rapids area.” Johnson said the goal is to get kids off the street during a week when they don’t otherwise have school activities, giving them a safe place to spend time. The district will offer up one of its existing six esports labs, where students can play online games like Fortnite, Call of Duty, NBA 2K, Overwatch and Super Smash Bros, Jones said. In addition to providing safe activities for students, Johnson said access to esports gives students an introduction to coding and computers, which can provide a pathway to a college education and even scholarships for esports and gaming. “It’s going to change a lot of things,” he said. “It’s going to help students get out of poverty. It’s going to help with the school-to-prison pipeline and finding creative outlets for outdated systems that really … do their best to keep individuals and our youth locked up.” RELATED: Teen offenders in Kent County have a new outlet – esportsDepending on the success of the esports portion of the program, Johnson said it could be expanded as part of the district’s summer learning program, a collaboration with the city of Grand Rapids and the Urban League of West Michigan. He said with additional sponsors, he’s hopeful to extend esports programming further across the state and even the country. Johnson described it as a “lifetime of learning through disguised learning opportunities.”GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A West Michigan nonprofit is partnering with Grand Rapids Public Schools (GRPS) to host a week-long esports event for students over spring break, part of an initiative to offer safe recreation opportunities. The event will also make use of the high school’s basketball court. Similar to that program, Johnson said the GRPS pilot with Jones will “keep our youth safe (with) organized and supervised activities.” Jones’ nonprofit, Jump Ahead L3C, has previously partnered with Kent County’s 17th Circuit Court Family Division to create and operate a program to steer youth offenders away from the “school-to-prison pipeline” using video games.“If our kids have an interest in that, we surely want to make that another avenue they could possibly look into,” he said.
