eSports Intern < STEAM Coordinator
Now that the internship has come to an end, I have been offered the position of STEAM Coordinator for the Wentzville Parks and Recreation at the new Wentzville Recreation Center (WREC). I have happily accepted the position and have moved from working remotely in my hometown of Quincy, Illinois to working on-site in Wentzville, Missouri. The WREC is now built and we’re currently wrapping up the final touches to get the eSports Lounge open for Open Play starting November 28th with the Leagues and Tournaments starting January of 2023.
Last weeks of the Internship
In the last few weeks of the internship, I had finished a couple different ideas for the eSports jerseys. I was given the Brand Standards Guide to use the authorized colors, fonts, and other branding guidelines required from the Wentzville Parks and Recreation. Their main colors are PMS Reflex Blue (HEX #001489), PMS 123 (Yellow HEX #FFC72C), Black 50% (Mid Gray HEX #939598), Black 100% (HEX #000000), and White (HEX #FFFFFF). They have three secondary colors used for first-level accent colors for events, promotions, and call-to-action graphics to be used in association with the primary colors. These colors consist of PMS 306 (Light Teal HEX #00B5E2), PMS 186 (Red HEX #C8102E), and PMS 347 (Green HEX #009A44).
Here are some of the designs I finalized as references for when we decide to make official jerseys for the eSports teams. I had two main ideas: a Gradient Design, and a Tear Design.
Being Hired On
Once it seemed we had done all the research and remote work for the eSports Lounge for the Leagues, Tournaments, and Classes, Alyssa decided to go ahead and offer Matthew and me a position at the WREC as STEAM Coordinators. It’s a part-time position, but Alyssa is trying to push our positions to full-time within a year. We felt we were prepared to jump in and start setting up the eSports Lounge once I moved down and the facility was completed. Our work has been slow over the past month, going through the hiring process, and moving down to the Wentzville area was the only work done for about a month until my first day starting October 31st.
First Two Weeks On-site
Once I gave the proper identification and paperwork, I got my ID from the HR department at Wentzville City Hall and headed to the WREC to get started with the setup. I met with the IT department to find that we had to move the PCs, Xbox, and Switch equipment into the eSports Lounge and begin putting it all together. Once we set up four PCs on each table and its peripherals, we had gotten a Switch set up in the console seating area, so we had some games to play for the soft opening with all the employees. Setting up the PCs using ggCircuit software, the IT department set up a way to host an eSports lab and gave Matthew and me the admin privileges to decide how the games are played and monitored.
We’re currently setting up the games on Xbox and Switch consoles so that users can either use their own accounts by signing in or just hop in and play on a guest account. We still have some work to do setting up a desk for our admin computer that the teachers would also use in the classes, setting up the leagues to be marketed this coming spring, and all the remaining software for different classes.
It’s been fun getting this setup and finally getting here after a five-month slow crawl to just the starting line. I’m extremely excited to see where Matthew and I can take this program in the coming months and possibly years down the line.