Mikki Angerman just wants everyone to feel included. She isn’t an esports fanatic. She doesn’t even call herself a gamer. Instead, she’s a special services educator who is passionate about promoting inclusion and acceptance.
“Our world right now needs empathy more than anything else,” she said. Angerman wants the middle and high school esports team to be a conduit for just that.
She hosted preliminary and casual esports practices last spring, but after realizing what was needed to both expand the team and possibly compete against other schools, she opted to pursue outside grant funding ahead of the current school year.
She wrote a letter to the Wrangell Cooperative Association asking for their help. The tribal council agreed to pursue funding on her behalf and acquired a $20,000 grant through Indian Health Services’ Domestic Violence Prevention Initiative.
As for equipment, Angerman admits she only has “what our hive could scrape together.”
For context, to be a legal esports school team in Alaska, you need at least six gaming PCs. Instead, the students have three computers (laptops hooked up to monitors from the school), a Wii she brought from her house and an Xbox that one student brings from home.
She said she often hosts Wii Sports tournaments by connecting the Wii console to the projection screen in her classroom. Notably, Wii Sports lets up to four players play simultaneously, making it an ideal option when trying to get 15 students involved and actively playing games.
Currently, some kids play with LEGOs when they’re waiting their turn for the consoles and computers. Angerman plans on using the grant funding to alleviate this issue. She wants to increase access to games, controllers, keyboards, mice and monitors. Her long-term goal is to acquire the six PCs needed for the team to become competition eligible.
Angerman hopes the expansion of the esports team, which is open to all secondary school students, will work to eliminate the stigma against esports.
“Our community is very into hunting and fishing and being outside — which I love,” she said, “but there are some kids who are not going to fit into that mold. I want to be able to have things in a small community like this that can speak to more kids.”
She said esports are a great avenue for students who don’t participate in other sports to experience the competition on which they might otherwise miss out.
“Some kids can’t compete in, say, traditional sports,” she said, “but they can compete and participate with something like gaming in a group where they feel accepted and are seen as an equal.”
Currently, the team practices after school on Mondays and Fridays, though she said the kids are always begging her to increase the number of practices.
“I’m going to try and do it Monday, Wednesday, Thursday so I can give them another day. I think those kids just need that group,” she said.
The secondary school esports team is open to any student. There are no tryouts, and anyone interested in joining is encouraged to reach out to Angerman. The team’s games are currently funded by donations. The grant will help, but in the meantime, community members with video games to spare are also encouraged to reach out.
“It’s just an atmosphere where we help each other,” she said. “We have fun, and the kids can do something different.”
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