During the 24-25 school year, some new clubs arrived on campus. One of these new clubs was e-sports, run by teacher Mr. McNeal in room C305.
The team had a modest start in the library towards the end of 2024, averaging between 10 – 16 kids during the first meeting. The club soon moved up to C305 and started off only talking about video games and planning the future of JFK e-sports.
A junior named Lukas Ochieng had this to say when asked about how the meetings were.
¨I went to a few meetings last year,” Lukas said. “It was humble. There was an XBOX for Marvel Rivals and some people talking. That’s it.¨
Since then, there have been meetings in C305 on Wednesdays and Fridays. After the first meeting, the subject matter of these meetings moved on. The club went on to discuss more serious matters like what games will be played, and which console these games will be played on.
When asked about the evolution of the club, a junior named Lakai Benton Davis had this to say.
¨I went a few times last year,¨ Lakai said. ¨It was changed over the course of the time I was there slightly.¨
A major thing that went on during meetings was going through clips of games and analyzing what was done right and what could have been done better. As these meetings kept going on past the initial introductory phase, Mr. McNeal started bringing a gaming console so members could practice and talk about the games being played.
After a few weeks of this thing picking up speed it brings us to the current day, lets see how things are now. We found out by interviewing the founder of the team Mr.McNeal.
The first thing we asked was “What has changed overall since the beginning of the club, then now. ( Funding, new equipment, more members, etc)”
Mr McNeal said ¨Mostly we have more organized club members and a Discord. We have people who are open to teaching certain games like League of Legends, or Marvel Rivals.¨
Another statement he made regarding that was. ¨This year I’d like for the team to participate in the Spring NASEF tournament. There are plenty of games like Super Smash Bros., Marvel Rivals, or League of Legends that plenty of our members are interested in. Otherwise, I’d like to still make this a space where we encourage folks to come and improve their skills.¨
In conclusion the JFK E-sports is becoming a much more organized group, and things are starting to speed up with them. If you are interested, visit C-305 on Fridays after school!
