Beyond the Game: cultivating student growth and community through high school Esports Scott Hertzog & Nick Joniec

The Beyond the Game Podcast had chance to sit down with Chad Whenry from Conestoga Valley Esports and discussed how their program started, the challenges they faced, and how they went about acquiring sponsors.

For more about the Beyond the game podcast, visit https://beyondthegamepodcast.com/

For more about Penn Manor Esports, visit https://blogs.pennmanor.net/esports/

For more about Conestoga Valley Esports, visit https://www.conestogavalley.org/Page/3090


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The Beyond the Game podcast had the chance to sit down at chat with James Roussel about NASEF, addressing parental concerns, etc.  We discuss the biggest hurdles for high school esports, Parents concerns about violence and addiction in video games, and much more.

https://beyondthegamepodcast.com/



James S. Roussel

Esports Program Coordinator

Passionate about providing opportunities for students to collaborate, learn, and grow through Esports, James works to promote the North America Scholastic Esports Federation program (NASEF) on the east coast. His goal with this initiative is to develop services that help connect low-income students and provide them with new, unique opportunities.

He has previously worked for United Way of Lancaster County to facilitate a joint partnership between the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA) and Lancaster County’s largest anti-poverty organization, Community Action Partnership.


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Recently, Nick and Scott had the opportunity to experience the Emerald Extravaganza, a two-day esports event which boasted 2 day of competitive play for Overwatch and League of Legends; students shout casting; and much more.  We had the chance yo sit down and chat with one of the organizers of the event Brianna Titi.  

To find out more about the Emerald Foundation, visit https://emeralde.org/initiatives/esports/

For more about the Beyond the Game podcast, visit https://beyondthegamepodcast.com/

Brianna Titi is the Esports Communications and Public Relations Coordinator for Emerald Foundation.

Brianna’s passion for the program and wonderful people skills allow her to effectively promote the Esports program in high schools, middle schools, and community organizations around the east coast. She works closely with NASEF communications and implementation teams to promote the brand and coordinate promotions by serving as the Emerald Foundation's east coast representative.

With a Bachelor’s in Communications and a concentration in Public Relations from Elizabethtown College, Brianna actively implements her communication skills throughout the organization. She is also charged with identifying Esports internship opportunities at the Emerald Foundation and managing participating students.


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In this podcast, Scott and Nick explore the beginning of Penn Manor Esports and how they got involved.  They discuss how it formed, how in garnered student interest, and the process and support that was needed.

For more information on Penn Manor Esports, visit: https://blogs.pennmanor.net/esports/

For more information on Beyond the Game, visit: https://beyondthegamepodcast.com/

Some Data:

The Esports program is a reflection of Penn Manor’s student population: 20 students participated in the program, six of which (or 30%) are students of color.

Student academic performance was positively impacted by participation in the Penn Manor Esports program: During the first season, there were 112 opportunities for students to be academically eligible to play, and students in this program succeeded in being able to pay 111 times.

The competitive spirit and taste for success was on display this season: Of the two Penn Manor Esports teams competing in the NASEF East Coast division, both succeeded in earing a spot in the playoffs, outperforming 17 other teams across the division, thereby demonstrating a high level of talent within the student body that can be further developed in the years to come.


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High School Esports teams develop in many ways.  Scott and Nick walk you through the journey of how Penn Manor Esports began, why it began, and some of the challenges of forming an esports program.  As Ray Bradbury once said, "You’ve got to jump off the cliff ... and build your wings on the way down."  The start of Penn Manor's Esports program felt a lot like this. 


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This episode introduces listeners to the podcast, the goals for the podcast, and invites you to tag along the journey. 

Beyond the Game Podcast describes the trials and tribulations of starting and running a high school Esports program from a coach/advisor’s point of view.

Follow our journey introducing Esports to our school community and its expansion to a full-year initiative focused on helping students grow and mentor.

Scott Hertzog and Nick Joniec introduced high school Esports to Penn Manor High School in August 2019.

Penn Manor Esports strives to be an inclusive program that engages populations previous disconnected from their school community. We believe in helping students develop valuable STEM skills-including communication, creativity, and leadership-to prepare them for college and life after school.

Scott is an English teacher at Penn Manor High School and currently teaches composition, world literature, American literature, and online creative writing and science fiction literature. He is the Esports Ambassador for Penn Manor Esports and leads the student mentorship for shoutcasting and social media. Scott has had an interest in PC gaming his entire life. In the early 2000’s, he gamed more seriously in the MMO genre, specifically World of Warcraft. Now his go to game is League of Legends.

Nick is the system administrator for Penn Manor School District, responsible for building and maintaining district network infrastructure and services. Within Penn Manor Esports, Nick is the Esports Coordinator. He manages scheduling and communication with other teams, technical operations, and student mentoring for graphics and media production. In middle school, Nick switched from console to PC gaming as his interest in computers grew. He prefers team-based first person shooter games and competitive racing sims.


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