District overseeing creation of Unified eSports League

Backed by a $35,000 Moonshot Grant from The Grable Foundation and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, and an additional grant from PlayVRS for equipment and gaming codes, the Fox Chapel Area School District is teaming with Pittsburgh Public Schools and the Freeport Area, South Fayette and Beaver Area School Districts on an after-school Unified eSports league. The Unified eSports league is the first of its kind in Pennsylvania, and only the second one in the nation. Fox Chapel Area will host an in-person Unified eSports tournament with the partner school districts on May 8 from 5-7 p.m. at O’Hara Elementary School.

Students in the eSports league will compete in Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. The league includes students in grades 6-12.

The collaboration fundamentally rethinks how inclusion is practiced in both education and sports by using Unified eSports as a platform for mutual empowerment, according to Dr. Megan Collett, the executive director of instructional and innovative leadership in the Fox Chapel Area School District.

“Traditional models often position students with disabilities as recipients of assistance, unintentionally framing inclusion as a one-way street,” Dr. Collett says. “Our approach challenges this by emphasizing that all students, regardless of ability or neurodiversity, bring unique skills to the table – or in this case, to the screen. It moves beyond ‘inclusion’ to ‘equity,’ where all participants are equally valued and contribute to the team’s success.”

The eSports league is experimental because it leverages the rapidly growing world of eSports – an unconventional yet highly engaging medium – as a learning tool, Dr. Collett says.

“Rather than utilizing conventional means, it uses gaming technology to foster teamwork, problem-solving and empathy in a way that feels relevant and exciting to today’s learners. It also disrupts conventional approaches by integrating students from diverse geographic, socioeconomic and ability backgrounds, ensuring that every student has access to the same opportunities and tools.”