It’s official. Esports is a sanctioned sport in Alaska. At Petersburg’s School Board meeting Tuesday night Activities Director, Jaime Cabral, announced that Esports has been sanctioned by the Alaska School Activities Association.
Esports is video gaming but in school it includes teams that compete against other schools online. Teams use the skill sets of individual players to overcome their opponents.
“We are the only school in Southeast who has it,” Cabral said. “There are nine school districts across the state that [have teams]: Mat-Su, Anchorage, Lower Kuskokwim, Peninsula, and so it’s been really cool.”
Alaska Esports uses the national gaming program, Electronic Gaming Federation.
In Petersburg, the team meets every weekday from 3 to 5 p.m. in the school’s technology room. Cabral says there are six students participating now.
“We’re hitting a different population of students that are not involved in extracurricular activities sports-wise but this is something to keep them engaged and have school pride in,” Cabral said.
Petersburg’s Esports team will compete for their first time Tuesday night. The team is still coming up with a name.
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In other extracurricular activities, 19 high school students have signed up for baseball this year and 25 students for track.
In spelling, a Petersburg 8th grader took sixth place in the statewide spelling bee. Deidre “DeDe” Toyamura competed against 148 other spellers in Anchorage, March 19.
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Two school board members will be flying to Juneau next month for a statewide legislative fly-in for school boards. Local Board President, Mara Lutomski, and Vice President, Sarah Holmgrain, will make the trip April 5-9. They will meet with regional lawmakers and hear an address from the Governor’s Director of Office Management and Budget, Donna Arduin.
