The Wiregrass Georgia Technical College chapter of SkillsUSA hosted the Wiregrass Paladins Wars eSports Open Invitational Saturday, December 8th. Gamers from across Georgia competed in the tournament which was live streamed to viewers over the Wiregrass YouTube channel and the college’s Facebook page.

Eight teams from across the state competed in a single-elimination siege tournament playing Paladins: Champions of the Realm, which is a free-to-play online video game developed by Hi-Rez Studios in Alpharetta, Georgia. This gameplay focuses on two teams racing to capture a center point within a map, and then pushing a payload from that point to the enemy base. The first team to score four points, wins the round.      

Teams from Georgia State University and Ogeechee Technical College took home first and second place, respectively. Two teams competed for Wiregass Georgia Technical College, one of which was made up of dual-enrollment students from Valdosta High School. Also included in the contestants were teams made up of high-schoolers from Cook High School and Valdosta High School as well as contestants of varying ages from the surrounding area.

Students from the Computer Programming, Computer Support and Repair, Networking, Cybersecurity, and Digital Media Technology programs planned, organized, and set up the eSports competition. Students from each program also formed a committee given the task of marketing the tournament to the community, choosing items for gift bags, and brainstorming ideas for the first and second place prizes.  Students from the college’s Culinary Arts program planned, cooked, and served lunch to tournament competitors and volunteers.

SkillsUSA is a national membership association that is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. At the center of SkillsUSA is the program of work which is the activities and projects that a chapter will carry out during the school year. Each chapter’s program of work relates to leadership development, service learning, community service, and technical skill development. The activities and projects relate to students’ vocational training and helps them learn by doing. Participation in projects gives students the opportunity to enhance their personal skills in communication, organization and planning, gain teamwork experience, and they learn from successes and failures. This competition is part of the Wiregrass SkillsUSA chapter’s program of work for this year.