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The newest “athletic” facility at Pearl-Cohn High School is a double-sized classroom full of high-speed computer processors, big screens showing finely detailed animation, and students of all shapes and sizes.

It’s the new academic E-sports lab, a room that has made Pearl-Cohn a pioneer in Metro Schools – with hopes of also leading the way in the state of Tennessee.

More than a year in the making, Pearl-Cohn’s commitment to E-sports – video game competitions that are sometimes played in front of live audiences but aren’t bound by geography – is expanding quickly. In February, senior Keanthony Waller became the first E-sports athlete in MNPS history to play in (and win) a competitive match, defeating a student from Florida in the pro basketball game NBA 2K 25.

“Y’all made history!” Principal Miriam Harrington told Keanthony and the roughly two dozen other students who had assembled in the lab the next morning. 

Harrington hopes to turn academic E-sports into a viable pathway within the Academies of Nashville, the small learning communities that Pearl-Cohn and MNPS’s other 11 zoned high schools use to expose students to career opportunities throughout their four years there. Such a pathway would make history, too, as the first in Tennessee.

E-sports has become a sizable industry, generating job opportunities not only for the most successful players but also in software development, web design, content streaming, broadcasting, business management, event planning, and other areas.

“It’s taking their interest and turning it into an academic focus that can lead to a career,” Harrington said.

Positive Impact

Pearl-Cohn administrators, teachers, and others who coach and work with the students said the opportunities to play and compete – which some students might not feel interested in doing with more traditional sports – are already having a positive impact.

The program is “creating an environment where students can engage in real-world skills like critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication through the lens of ‘gaming’ and in an academic/professional environment,” said Jason Bihler, an instructional designer for the school district. 

Signs on the walls list the core values of the Pearl-Cohn academic E-sports program: challenge, community, stewardship, enjoyment, excellence, exemplary. Tyler Welch, an academy coach at the school who is also the head coach for girls’ basketball and girls’ cross country, said the design of the classroom, with rows of computer stations on one side and a more social area on the other, has given students opportunities to learn and practice social-emotional skills when they’re not competing.

“What we’re tapping into is not just playing games but treating them like adults,” added Thomas Paden, a broadcasting teacher and assistant E-sports coach. “I think it’s already paid off. Their grades are going up. We’re seeing more respect and good manners being practiced in here. And besides that, it’s fun.”

Several other MNPS schools are thinking about adding E-sports as well, Bihler said. Glencliff Elementary already has an E-sports club, and a handful of elementary, middle, and high schools are exploring the possibilities.

At Pearl-Cohn, the students compete at NBA 2K 25 as well as a chess game, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Rocket League. Mikhai Moshay, a sophomore, is a member of the regionally ranked Rocket League team, enjoying a fast-paced soccer-with-vehicles game he had already been playing on his own for a few years.

“I just like that you can come in here and just game,” Mikhai said. “It’s free and open. You’re doing something you love, and it’s at school.”