Game On! Glenwood High School Enters the Esports Scene
At the stroke of the release bell, a group of Glenwood High School students files out of their 7th-hour classes and into the computer lab. They sit down at their “battlestations” and fire up their comms. “15 minutes until gametime,” calls Coach Landstrom. The team has been preparing all week, watching film, practicing plays, and devising strategy for their toughest match of the season against Gilbert High School. Each player loads into the game, chooses a car, and enters the soccer field.
The Rise of Esports in Schools
Rocket League, an esports game played with cars on a soccer field, is the first video game title that Glenwood High School is playing in its inaugural esports season. Electronic sports, or “Esports" refers to the organized competitive video game scene, which has gained massive popularity in recent years, including games such as Rocket League, Overwatch, and League of Legends. Glenwood is just one of many schools in Iowa entering the growing space of competitive gaming.
Recently, the esports scene has become too big for schools to ignore. For context, the 2024 World Championship for one of the most popular games, League of Legends, attracted around 6.9 million concurrent viewers online, enough to fill Yankee Stadium more than 127 times. With the rise in popularity, many high schools and colleges have been recruiting teams for competition, Glenwood included.
Bringing Esports to Glenwood
Back in the 2021-22 school year, Glenwood Activities Director Jeff Bissen approached teacher Bruce Landstrom about sponsoring an esports team at Glenwood. However, there were still questions about its structure, funding, and potential impact at Glenwood HS.
“I was interested in how we could bring an esports program to Glenwood, but it was always a pie-in-the-sky dream due to the money needed,” Bissen noted.
Coach Landstrom jumped at the idea and recruited English teacher Charles Heilman as a prospective coach in the hopes that if and when funding became available, there would be a support system to get the program off the ground. Both Heilman and Landstrom began planning what the program might look like and searched for a source of funding.
Making It Happen
At the same time in 2022, a nonprofit, teacher-led esports organization was coming together in Iowa: the Iowa High School Esports Association. They had just finished their inaugural year, and more high schools were becoming involved, likely due to the student-centered focus of the program rather than the competitive focus that many other for-profit organizations have. The organization’s mission is to “provide an opportunity for more students to feel connected to their school” and “provide future opportunities in the fields of technology and esports.” The organization caught the eye of Heilman.
“Since I started teaching at Glenwood, I followed the organization and streamed the state finals for students—not only because of my interest in esports but also to show them that this could be a school program. I particularly liked that the organization was created by educators and that their focus was on student enrichment.”
Glenwood’s break came in 2024 when Director of Student Services Cindy Menendez secured a grant through Iowa’s Therapeutic Classroom program, which provides resources and support for many students who are not typically connected or involved with school activities. The fit was perfect; from the Glenwood Esports handbook: “The esports program was designed to create an inclusive and engaging environment where all students, especially those who may not be involved in traditional after-school/sport activities, can develop a connection to our RAMS community.”
With funding secured and the groundwork laid, Landstrom and Heilman were ready to run, but the purchase of equipment and implementation of the program needed approval from the school board.
Heilman recounts the experience of pitching the idea to the board: “I was a bit nervous to present the idea of ‘video games in school’ to the board. I knew that perceptions surrounding video games could vary, especially with earlier generations of people. Bruce [Landstrom] and I wrote a detailed handbook and sent it to board members, explaining how the program would run, including our values and structure. It ended up making the difference. They saw what we saw: the ability for esports to reach some of the most vulnerable populations of students and enrich their experience in our community.” Two months later, Glenwood had erected a gaming “arena” in the computer lab behind the library.
“Many thanks go to the tech department staff, Heather Bachman and Jedd Taylor, as well as Connie Olson, Cindy Menendez, Jeff Bissen, Maureen Martin, Eric Rasmussen, and school administrators for making the program a reality, and just in time for the Winter season of Rocket League,” says Heilman.
Glenwood's First Season
Glenwood now has a full schedule of games, rotating through three seasons: Fall, Winter, and Spring.
Esports Game Titles by Season:
Fall: Rainbow 6: Siege, Smite, Super Smash Bros.
Winter: Rocket League, Overwatch 2
Spring: Mario Kart, Valorant, League of Legends
The Winter season has recently ended, with Glenwood making a postseason appearance at the Marshalltown State tournament. For a full recap of the season and thoughts from the players, tune into the March edition of the “Good Things in Glenwood” podcast, which can be found on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Spotify.
Supporters and esports fans can catch Spring season Valorant and Mario Kart games live-streamed Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4:00 pm on the GCSDStream YouTube channel or come watch in person in the High School library.