NEW PUB ROOM MAKES A BOOM: ESPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS USES NEW TECHNOLOGY AND SOFTWARE
September 2019 - THE STANDARD
A league of their own: Spencer Clark (‘20), Thomas Wynne (‘20), and Matthew Levine (‘21) play Rocket League in the newly renovated Pub Room. Photo Sam Goodman
As students rolled onto campus for the first day of the new school year, they may have noticed a change to mysterious room 111. What was usually a bustling news room scattered with literary posters, extra copies of The Rambler, and the First Amendment displayed proudly in the window, was transformed into a high tech computer lab with 16 wall-mounted CPUs, glowing red overhead lighting, and a 76” flat screen TV. The room is now a space shared by a range of students and extracurricular activities.
“I was really surprised when I first saw the pub room because I didn’t know there was a renovation to it over the summer, and it doesn’t really feel like a publication room anymore because of all the new technology and lights” The Canyon Design Editor Caroline Rifkind said.
The room was ultimately designed to serve several purposes as it is shared by the staff of The Standard, The Canyon, The Rambler, as well as members of the Esports team, according to Technology Coordinator Julian Evjen. The technology in the room was selected in order to give the best gaming performance and computer software is fit for all publication related classes and activities.
“The upgrade to the pub room has been phenomenal for the school’s publications. Our editors are all able to access the school server and edit documents instantaneously. The speed and efficiency of our production has been upgraded dramatically, and that opens the door to a whole new potential for software education for the staff,” The Standard Adviser Chris Botello said.
The creation of the eSports team was initiated by John Branca (‘21) early in the summer, working with Monroe and Director of Operations Jay Miller to choose technology for the room and to design the eSports program.
Coached by science teacher Bruce Buenaventura, math teacher Julie Ahring, and the technology department’s Ryan Chapman, the team is made up of about 15 gamers, each specializing in either Rocket League, Fortnite, or League of Legends. Each game competes on a different night of the week, schools then report their scores and regional standings are released by the High School Esports League the next day.
“Since [we are] a very forward-thinking school and are highly regarded when it comes to sports, I thought there would be real potential in creating an eSports team,” Branca said. “In future seasons I hope we will be able to expand our team to include more games, more people, and possibly another room. Hopefully, we will become as talented and widely known as the football and basketball teams.”