A new way for students to earn scholarships has finally arrived, and is in full effect.  Instead of hearing about athletic and academic scholarships, you might start to hear more about gaming scholarships.

Gamer squads called eSport teams spend at least five hours a day typing, tapping, and clicking on their keyboards at universities around the world.   What is the purpose behind all of this?

The main purpose of colleges offering scholarships for eSports is to provide a way financially for interested kids to come into a career field they love. But a big push for this course is also to help get students experience working as a team.

It could be a new way for lots people to finally use video games positively.  It will show they are more than just keeping kids inside on a nice day.

Robert Morris University Illinois in Chicago created and official video game team this fall, offering the same sort of scholarships that are offered to athletes who play soccer, football, and ice hockey.

Students could earn a big sum of money if they won a tournament, some tournaments put out cash prizes that could provide tuition money for several years.

Would this be something kids from Bellwood-Antis are interested in? Probably, but it’s not easy.

Both Freshmen Nathan Grimme and Jordan Moore would be very interested in taking the path to have a career in eSports.

Jordan is so into it that he owns an eSports plus account, which he uses to bid on other players and earn coins if his bid is correct.

One big thing eSports is trying to bring into student lives is teamwork.  To be a successful team you need to have communication, knowledge, and skill.  It takes a lot of practice to get to the level of a professional gamer.

Senior Derek Swope is also going into a major of Computer Science at Saint Francis University, which also offers “Video Game Development” specialization, which he will be involved with. He aspires to be a video game developer. He was asked if he has ever thought of joining an eSports team.

“Yes, but the amount of time it takes to become that good is insane.  You have to be extremely dedicated and have the ability to travel to large events,” he said.

It could earn big money, however. The highest paid gamers in 2015 earned around $2 million.

How much time do kids really spend playing video games?  Kalieb Mielnik might not be going into a career field dealing with video games, but he still grinds out the digital experience five days a week, as Derek and Nate also do.

There’s no doubt that video games are a very popular and trending activity in the lives of many people today.  But eSports takes video gaming to a level a lot of people couldn’t compete at.  Do you have what it takes?

“It is interesting, but wanting to be a nuclear engineer has nothing to do with video games.  But video games will always be a hobby of mine,” said senior Nate Mackareth.