Playing video games is a love that most teenagers in today’s society have in common. With newer consoles and more advanced electronics coming out all of the time, this passion has become much larger in the past few years. E-sports, also known as Electronic Sporting, has grown in popularity all across the country, with high schools slowly implementing the activity into their curriculum. Sure enough, the topic has slowly but surely made its way into the gossip pool at LHS, leaving one question on everyone’s mind: “Will E-Sports come to Larned?” While some students would love for this to happen, others have opposite views. In the following text, students at the high school will voice their opinions, and readers will find out what the future holds for eSports at Larned High School.
To begin, we must dive deeper and find out how E-Sports was even brought up at all. When asked how Esports was first brought up as a topic, Mr. Ettleman, the assistant principal at Larned High School, stated “I had a student reach out and say that they were interested, so we sent out a Google form to see what the overall interest was, to make sure there would be enough interest to support the activity.” He continued to talk about how the student body has many different student opinions, and many of them were not opposed to this idea. It is empowering to see an instance where student opinion truly has a voice in matters such as this. Mr. Ettleman said at the end of the interview that actions were being taken to add eSports to LHS.
The students’ views on this topic are widely varied. Some students think that high school is no place for a video-game-centered sport, while others would love to see more students included in after-school activities. One student, Alanah Bauer, voiced her opinion in the following words: “Personally, I think adding Esports would be great! I know a lot of kids who are afraid to try out for more physical sports but still want to be a part of a team. I think Esports will give them a chance to do this.” However, another student, Temperance Donecker, had other things to say about it. “I don’t think allowing people to play video games and call it a sport is a good idea. If kids want to play video games, then they can do that at home, not get rewarded for staring at a screen and calling it practice.”
Whether you are for or against E-Sports coming to LHS, most will agree on how it is exciting to see the high school adding new activities.
