Kent State University at Salem is offering tuition scholarships, renewable each year, to students who play on its varsity E-Sports team. You can get paid to play! The new E-Sports program is university-wide , with developing teams at every Kent campus. The Salem Campus has some remaining scholarships and is looking for new student-gamers.
The program is run by Dr. Steven Toepfer, director of E-Sports at Kent State University and the Salem Campus team. “The Salem Campus was the first to offer scholarships,” Toepfer said, “but other campuses are following our lead.”
The Salem Campus has a practice space with gaming computers for the team. "Our team will practice face-to-face every week as well as online. We have a great Discord channel that allows us to organize and communicate,” according to Kate Larabee, team president.
The program is recruiting Overwatch, Fortnite and Hearthstone players; however, the team is open to other games, depending on student interest and team goals. The team will compete with other university teams in a regular season, as well as out-of-season matches. It will also scrimmage against other teams in the Kent State system.
The E-Sports program is devoted to developing well-rounded student-gamers. “That means we help our players excel on and off the virtual playing field,” Toepfer said. “E-Sports are a ton of fun, but it’s more than that. It’s a way to connect our students to the university and help them build strong memories of their time at Kent State. They represent the university and we get to enter the expanding world of global E-Sports, all for the price of supporting something they’re deeply passionate about.”
To qualify for the Salem team, players must be a registered student at the Salem Campus. Visit KSU Salem E-Sports page to apply for an E-Sports scholarship.
https://www.kent.edu/columbiana/salemesports
Read about the recent Overwatch/Hearthstone Tournament at Kent: https://www.kent.edu/einside/news/video-gaming-and-academic-scholarship-join-forces-kent-state%E2%80%99s-first-esports-tournament