Warren High wins first eSports gaming tournament

DOWNEY – Warren High School won the Overwatch Downey Unified High School eSports Tournament on Tuesday, the first-of-its-kind video game competition ever held in Los Angeles County.

Warren defeated Downey in the finals, which were played in front of a live audience at the Downey Theatre. The finale was the culmination of a six-week program where students formed 7-member teams and competed against other teams within each school.

Ten teams from Downey High and eight teams from Warren High competed in the tournament.

Held in partnership with the Carrot Group, the tournament was part of Downey Unified’s MADE Initiative, a college and career readiness program headed by director John Harris. The goal of MADE is to ensure that every student has the opportunity to achieve their post-secondary educational and career goals.

“We are thrilled for Warren High School and proud of how the students worked hard during the season and came together as a team to win,” said Harris.

“This tournament embodies everything we are trying to do with our students to align with our district’s vision to ensure they are college and career ready, globally competitive, and citizens of strong character. We are proud to bring innovative programs such as this one to help our students learn and grow.”

Downey Unified positioned the tournament to show students how their interest in video games could turn into prospective career opportunities, while addressing a positive approach to healthy competition including teamwork, leadership, resilience, and problem-solving.

This Tournament showed students how their interest in video gaming could turn into prospective career opportunities within science, technology, arts, engineering, and math (STEAM) fields, all while addressing a positive approach to healthy competition including teamwork, leadership, resilience, and problem solving.

All participating students attended a facilitated on-campus Workforce Development session from educational partners: UCode, Positive Coaching Alliance, West Hills College Coalinga, and leading game designers. Participating students are also eligible to enroll in two free online Game Design courses, each worth three graded college credits, offered by West Hills College Coalinga starting in January 2019.

Each member of the winning team received a grand prize package including video gaming accessories from SteelSeries, a meeting with leading game designers, and all-expenses paid trip to a one-week game design bootcamp where they are each eligible to receive an additional two graded college credits on their college transcript.

Additionally, Warren High received a trophy and a $1,000 gift certificate towards computer supplies.

Competing for Warren were Adrian Bermejo, Allen Bermejo, Vianni Richards, John Terry, Jacob Mexia, Caleb Villanueva and Vincent Scala.

The Bears were coached by David Quintero.

Competing for Downey were Adam Bhulyan, Omar Aguilar, Daniel Valdez, Michael Pasaye, Bryan Skorka, Adrian Caballero and Jose Cisneros.

The Vikings were coached by David Kraus.