By Rachel Chiang | Assistant News Editor
Over the weekend, Baylor partnered with Vanta, a a scholastic esports platform, to host the Texas Esports League Fall Finals at the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center.
The scholastic event consisted of middle school competitors on Saturday and high school competitors on Sunday. The players competed in qualifying events over the 12 weeks leading up to these final tournaments of their respective games. Those games included Rocket League, League of Legends, Valorant, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Overwatch 2 and chess.
PC stations lined the edges of the Grand Ballroom while projector screens throughout the Welcome Center displayed competition sets where spectators and parents could watch and cheer for their kids and players. Baylor’s own student-run esports team, OSO Esports, hosted a lounge in the corner for casual play and friendly competition in which players could win prizes if they beat OSO’s team members.
Texarkana senior and OSO Esports president Joshua Linnett said the event was a good way to connect with potential new students and get them interested in Baylor.
In Carlton Hall, the Coalition of Parents in Esports had a booth connecting parents whose kids were competing and sharing how parents can support and protect their kids in this growing competitive environment. Baylor’s School of Engineering and Computer Science also had a booth to share about their program as part of Baylor’s strategic plan, Baylor in Deeds.
On the second floor in Fudge Auditorium, ECS dean Daniel Pack held informational sessions for parents about the ECS program, and parents recieved opportunities to ask questions about the growing esports world or learn more about Baylor. Free campus tours were also given throughout the event weekend.
According to Paul Todkill, the platform’s marketing director, Vanta is dedicated to creating safe places for kids to game with adult supervision. Todkill said he recognizes that not all kids will be interested in sports or other school activities like band or debate, so offering a space for kids to safely experience community and create meaningful experiences and memories is the company’s main goal.
Todkill said he is grateful for Baylor’s support in esports and allowing them to host their event on campus.
“We’re just super happy to be here,” Todkill said. “We’ve done a bunch of different events in Texas, and this is by far might be one of the coolest places we’ve ever been in. And everybody has been so friendly.”
Jason Cook, Baylor’s vice president for marketing and communications and chief marketing officer, shared Todkill’s excitement in the partnership to support the growing world of esports.
Cook said the event was a great opportunity for Baylor to align with its new strategic plan to expand the ECS and showcase campus for a new and growing audience of prospective students.
“We think that as a Christian research university, Baylor needs to have a presence in esports — particularly how large the community is — and it’s growing,” Cook said. “And we’ve learned that parents have a lot of questions about it, so we believe we have a role in coming alongside them and exploring esports with them.”
In addition to hosting this competition, Cook said the university is looking to allocate funds for scholarships to recruit incoming competitive esports students. Linnett said he is optimistic for the future of OSO Esports.
“Honestly, it’s kind of surreal because when I started, when I became president of OSO [Esports], we were on the brink of not being a club anymore since we had no people in the club at all, so I just had to really rebuild,” Linnet said. “So it’s really a crazy thing just to have this chance before I graduate to be able to be a part of something bigger and see a legacy for the club once I leave.”
