Shaker Heights High Wins $25,000 Esports Lab

SHAKER HEIGHTS, OH — The Shaker Heights High Esports team will receive a $25,000 ESports lab.

Funds for the project will come from the High School Esports League (HSEL) and the U.S. Army National Guard. Shaker Heights High was one of only 25 schools in the U.S. to receive the funding and the only Ohio school selected.

"We were so excited to hear this amazing news! In just a few short years, we've grown from a small after-school club to a supportive team of ethletes who have won back-to-back state championships," said Shaker High Esports Head Coach Keith Szalay. "This new Esports lab will provide our team with the latest gaming hardware—and it will be even more meaningful to them, because they will have built it all themselves."

Even the construction of the new Esports lab will require hands-on education. HSEL leadership will visit each school to teach athletes about computer design and instruction and teams will then build their own computers for the Esports lab.

HSEL is calling their trip around the nation, to visit Shaker Heights and the other 24 winning schools, the HSEL Roadshow.

"It is important that we work to engage students in a way that builds life-long enthusiasm and excitement. With the HSEL Roadshow, we not only get to directly teach students life-long lessons on computer building and maintenance but also give them the opportunity to get hands-on experience with esport gaming, potentially setting them up for a future career. We hope that this tour helps bring some excitement to schools as we hopefully achieve some normalcy again as we approach the spring and summer," said Jason Kirby, president of Generation Esports