by Caleb Funderburk and Adam Lord
LSUA’s Division of Student Engagement is launching a new E-Sports Lounge to enhance the student experience by offering the opportunity to play video games to relax or compete in gaming tournaments.
Video games are a staple interest in the life of the modern college student. Whether they are hardcore gamers, or simply enjoy video games as a leisure activity, students will now have that dedicated space to gather as a common-intertest community on campus.
“For many, video games act as stress relief and community builders, and studies suggest they can even help increase cognitive abilities such as critical thinking, teamwork, and problem-solving, said Caleb Funderburk, Recreation and Wellness Coordinator. “Not only that, E-Sports is quickly becoming a mainstream sport in the collegiate world, and we are proud that LSUA will pioneer central Louisiana into this new world of possibilities.”
Abbey Bain, Vice Chancellor for Student Engagement, explained, “With gaming growing as a hobby and sport among college students, it is a natural progression to create an e-sports lounge at LSUA. This space will engage and connect students to campus as well as to other students in a fun and innovative environment.”
Sophomore computer science major James Brown said, “The E-Sports Lounge is an amazing opportunity for students to build connections through games … from working together to friendly competition.”
The E-Sports lounge will be open in the afternoons during the week with more availability opening next semester. As E-Sports continues to rapidly grow across the country, LSUA will be making efforts to recruit, train, and compete in E-Sports tournaments on the collegiate level.