Acing education through esports - MAYKEL GONZALES

In this era where creating the perfect balance between gaming and studying is deemed impossible, one collegiate esports player is winning at proving otherwise.

- JUSTINE PUNZAL AN

Meet Michael James Gonzales, a University of Santo Tomas Teletiger who was recently accepted into the Varsity Esports program for League of Legends (LoL) of the Harrisburg University of Science & Technology in Pennsylvania, United States.

Michael James, or “Maykel” to his friends, will assume the role of bottom laner for the esports team while taking up a degree in Information Technology at the university.

Harrisburg has been granting full-tuition scholarships and housing stipends to 22 eligible esports players every year. In his email interview with Speed, Maykel recalled how he tried his luck and showcased his skills after hearing about it from one of his friends.

“I learned about it from my friend who saw on Twitter that the school was looking for players and there were tryouts for it. I applied then got qualified to do tryouts. We were required to submit five videos of our games and then they’ll decide,” Maykel said.

He didn’t think he’d make the cut, and so when the results came, it made him happy “because it means that my skills are good enough since it was recognized.”

With an experience of nine years in