Roni Bradley’s classroom at Wellsville-Middletown R-I was turned into a game room on Sept. 7.

Eight students from grades 7-10 were playing Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. as part of the new esports club that was formed at W-M on Aug. 31. Bradley, a math teacher, is in charge of the program.

“It’s a good place to hang out and be part of the community,” Bradley said.

Sixth grader Reese Kleven, seventh-graders Imogen Barker, Charlie Freie and Zeke Bradley, freshmen Kara Freie and Kristin Bradley and sophomores Hannah Barker and Sam Page are the program’s members. Zeke and Kristen are Bradley’s children.

Hannah Barker said she is happy to be part of the first e-sports club at W-M. Club members meet every Thursday at Bradley’s classroom after school.

“I like it a lot,” Hannah said. “It gives us a break from doing a whole lot of stuff. It pretty much resets our mind after all of the homework and everything. If we don’t get our work done and we have a bad grade, they’re going to make us focus on it, while everybody else plays.”

Bradley, who has been teaching at W-M for four years, said she was excited about the opportunity to lead the e-sports program.

"I think it’s helping us keep up with the times,” Bradley said. “In esports, there are so many careers that have potential to come out of this such as scholarship opportunities."

Bradley started recruiting students to join the program at the end of the 2022-23 school year.

“I told some of the students about it last year when the switches came in,” Bradley said. “I said, ‘Hey, we’re doing this.’ That garnered some excitement there.”

Bradley said she hopes that her club will get to play competitively in the Missouri Scholastic Esports Federation next year. MOSEF was founded in 2019 as a nonprofit organization that supports middle school and high school esports programs.

“E-sports, in general, is gaining popularity,” Bradley said. “The University of Missouri gives away hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships. There are a lot of different careers that could come out of esports like broadcasting, computer designing and video making.”

Bradley said she recently applied for a grant that will help pay for a gaming computer.

“With the Missouri E-sports Federation, they’ve got games that are competitive team games on the computer,” Bradley said. “If we get that grant, then we’ll have gaming computers. There’s a company that creates gaming furniture that donates gaming chairs.”

The W-M e-sports club plans to host a gaming tournament on Oct. 6 that is open to all elementary, junior high and high school students.