BridgeValley Community & Technical College to launch first community college ESports program in West Virginia

Starting in October, students at BridgeValley Community & Technical College (BVCTC) will have a new opportunity to take part in an extracurricular activity. The college is starting an ESports club where students can participate in competitive video gaming. Administrators say they hope to attract a lot of participants and eventually grow the program into a nationally competitive team that can compete in the National Association of Collegiate ESports (NACE) Varsity league.

Sara Price, BVCTC's coordinator of Student Engagement, explained in a news release that the club is a starting point, "For now, we want members to play against each other and develop that teamwork aspect, but the hope is for our students to actually compete nationally in the varsity ESports program and have a championship team from BridgeValley. Right now it's more about forming the club, understanding our students and getting their input into what this is going to look like for them."

As the first community college to offer ESports as an extracurricular activity in West Virginia, Price said that BVCTC is hoping to be the leader in the state of what has become a nationwide trend. "We want BVCTC to continue to be known for its innovation and keeping up with the trends and what's attracting college students. ESports is fairly new. It really hasn't been around that long. And so this gives us the opportunity to be a front runner in that, especially in West Virginia," Price commented.

BridgeValley hopes to someday compete against NACE Varsity League teams. NACE started in 2016 and now claims that over 170 schools participate competitively with over 5000 students playing. NACE offers scholarships and an annual national convention.

According to its news release, BVCTC is considering offering for-credit classes in ESports in the future. Students of all skill levels are encouraged to join the club.