When Catalina High School hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new esports lab on Jan. 17, history was made in the Tucson Unified School District.
The new state-of-the-art gaming center became the first esports lab at any TUSD high school.
The lab features 20 high-tech gaming stations compatible with the most popular games in the esports industry, including Rocket League, Super Smash Bros Ultimate and League of Legends.
But for Catalina, the new gaming lab is so much more than just a place to play video games.
It’s a place for students to engage with one another and learn technological skills like digital citizenship, content creation and video editing.
“It’s important for us to offer students experiences that are relevant to their lives,” said Catalina principal Norma Gonzalez. “And so, we know students engage in video games and social media, that is what’s current in their lives. … It’s our responsibility to make sure that we’re staying relevant to their lives and the experiences in their lives.”
A peek inside Catalina’s new esports lab with 20 high-tech gaming stations.
Currently, the lab is home to the school’s newest elective course: Introduction to Informational Technology taught by Barry Wilson.
“A big thing is just building community within other schools, not only in Tucson but to talk to several schools in Phoenix, as well,” he said. Aside from Catalina, only a few TUSD middle schools have esports labs, including Utterback and Magee middle schools and C.E. Rose Academy.
The Catalina class began last month and already has 15 students enrolled. The class can have a total of 20 students, one for each gaming station.
“There’s a lot of excitement, especially when you look in the lab,” said Kelly Bristow, Catalina’s assistant principal. “It is a very impressive lab and Barry and several people on our campus have done a great job of just putting it together, but there is lots of excitement centered around just the actual lab. And our counselors are currently doing course selection for next year and one of our counselors told us just this morning that there are many, many kids signing up for the elective.”
Barry Wilson, left, and Norma Gonzalez, right, speak during Catalina’s esports lab ribbon cutting ceremony on Jan. 17. Wilson, is teaching a new tech elective in the lab.
This upcoming fall, the gaming lab will also become the home of the Catalina Trojans gaming teams, which will be sanctioned by the AIA.
Esports became a registered athletic activity with the AIA in 2019. Since then, esports has only grown in popularity.
The AIA now has nearly 100 high school esports teams across Arizona, including nine from Tucson, soon-to-be 10 with the addition of Catalina.
Once the JV and varsity teams are formed at Catalina, they will compete against other high school esports teams in Tucson and Phoenix. As of right now, the school is focused on recruiting for Rocket League.
“I know we have really good Rocket League players on campus right now,” Wilson said.
The idea for a Catalina esports lab was developed last spring, thanks to Ricky Valdez, the assistant principal at Utterback Middle School, who recommended Catalina to funders.
An extra empty classroom and a couple of grants from the Educational Enrichment Foundation and the Marshall Foundation later, the Catalina esports lab came to life earlier this year.
Staff and community members attended Catalina HS’s ribbon cutting ceremony for its new esports lab on Jan. 17.
“We were fortunate that we were sought out as a site and essentially it fell on our laps where the donors were looking for a site that would be welcoming of of this,” Gonzalez said.
Now that the lab is up and running, Catalina staff are excited to see students learn teamwork, problem-solving, communication and professionalism, all while having fun and coming to school excited for the day.
“We realize how important wanting to go to school is and we’re really excited that we have this new fun elective that will hopefully encourage students to want to come to school,” Gonzalez said. “And we’re a Title 1 school. So, the fact that we can offer our students this high-tech laboratory is just really exciting and it’s really exciting showing them that they’re worth it. They mean that much that we have this awesome opportunity at school for them.”
