About the Symposium
About the Symposium
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The Riverside County Esports Symposium is hosted by the Riverside County Office of Education and the Riverside County Esports League to inspire and educate participants and decision makers in the K-12 context to embrace esports as a viable and sustainable team and extracurricular activity that contributes to the social, emotional, academic, and career growth of K-12 students. The skills, discipline, strategies and problem-solving required to compete at a high level in scholastic esports are often transferable to other, more traditional, occupations, and the opportunities for communication, teamwork, empathy, and sportsmanship rival those of traditional sports. Furthermore, careers in esports abound as the ecosystem requires creatives, programmers, marketers, organizers, and competitors, just to name a few. Gaming as an extracurricular and team activity is also an excellent way to connect students to their home schools. We believe these factors along with the popularity of video games and the opportunity to provide a positive, equitable, and joyful gaming environment for students are far too important to the well-being of today's student to overlook.
The Riverside County Office of Education hosted its 3rd annual virtual Esports Symposium on December 8, 2022, and its very first in-person Esports Community Expo December 10, 2022. The virtual event included a keynote speaker, closing panel discussions, and breakout sessions in related content strands. The in-person community expo celebrated the world of scholastic esports and included a Riverside County Esports Grand Finals Championship Super Smash Bros. Crew Battle, college fair, gaming zones, vendors, food, and fun! This event is designed for district and site leaders, teachers, parents, and students to celebrate scholastic esports and provide hands-on experience with esports and with esports service providers.
SESSION VIDEOS available now!
Keynote Speaker
Keynote Speaker
Steve Isaacs
Steve Isaacs
Steve Isaacs is the Education Program Manager at Epic Games. His mission in this role is to support educators and students in exploring career opportunities that leverage interactive 3d skills. Prior to his role at Epic, Steve was a public school teacher for 28 years, teaching game design and development as well as other courses related to creative uses of technology. Steve enjoys spending time with family and friends. His hobbies include video games, biking, snorkeling, hiking and live music. Steve is also a co-author of The Esports Education Playbook: Empowering Every Learner Through Inclusive Gaming
Closing Panel Experts
Closing Panel Experts
Jasmine Randolph
CEO and Founder of Team Inferno, an esports organization currently creating content and competing in Apex Legends.
Christopher Matthews
Co-Founder of Gamerabble, the gamified esports coaching and community platform for players who want to improve and connect in a positive, non-toxic atmosphere
Kahlil Keys
Director of Strategic Initiatives at Gen.G Esports, where he helps create integrated marketing partnerships and cause initiatives that advance the organization’s mission of building a global, inclusive, and cross-cultural future for sports entertainment.
Dr. Paul Fornelli
Researcher, author, entrepreneur, musician, Dr. Fornelli’s research has centered on organizational leadership, project-based curriculum development, online teaching strategies, social media branding, service learning, digital media production, and the Esports industry.
Kevin Le
Kevin Le is Lathrop Intermediate’s Math 6 & Esports CTE class instructor as well as its club advisor and coach. He also is on the OCCUE Board as equity and outreach chair. His love for esports began when he became one of the top 3 Smash Bros players in the UCLA competitive community and went on to coach his friends into placing top 4 at their first tournament.
Juniette Kang'a
A doctoral student, entrepreneur, and founder of a marketing company, Bliss Navigator, Juniette also co-founded CenCal Esports, the first scholastic Homeschool esports team in California. She has been selected as a North American Scholastic Esports Fellow (NASEF), where she is researching the intersection of passionate gaming interest as a social and learning connection in various settings.
Tom Panico
Tom Panico is an esports educator at Harrisburg University, one of the leading esports management collegiate programs in the United States.
Peter Whitmore
Peter works as a Coordinator of Technology, Innovation, & Assessment with Moreno Valley Unified School District. He also co-facilitates their district-wide scholastic esports program. In just 1.5 years they have implemented the largest district-wide league in Riverside County with 22 elementary schools, 9 middle schools, and 5 high schools with a focus on, student engagement, curricula, and peer-mentoring.
Esports Symposium Content Strands
Esports Symposium Content Strands
Check Out Our previous Symposium breakout sessions
Check Out Our previous Symposium breakout sessions
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