North America Scholastic Esports Federation

The North America Scholastic Esports Federation (NASEF) is possibly the best non-profit esports organization in the U.S. It aims to provide free tools and resources for passionate high school students who want to make their mark in the world of competitive gaming. The federation offers an extensive range of scholastic and academic resources which includes the development of state-approved high school esports curriculum. It also supports community and school-based organizations with administration and faculty services. The minds behind the formation of the NASEF include directors from Samueli Foundation, collegiate esports experts from the UCI Esports program, and top researchers from Irvine and the University of California ^[1].

NASEF’s mission is to provide a dedicated esports platform to all the students. That leads them to success in life through the acquisition of problem-solving skills, collaboration, and critical communication. NASEP aims to ensure that each student is equipped with skills and knowledge that helps to strive in real life, making them empathetic, productive, and educated individuals ^[2]. The core values of the NASEF include:

Learning

NASEF is found to provide interest-based learning, that helps to connect educators, students and their families to learn in and out of the classroom

Opportunity

The federation realizes that all the students need a secure and engaging environment to grow, learn, play, and connect.

Community

NASEF possesses a strong, passionate, and dedicated community of scholars who practice, fortitude, commitment, accountability, and leadership. They also teach these values to the respective students.

Diversity & Respect

NASEF emphasis on the development of Self-identity and strong character so that each individual can own their own skills. It respects and honors the strengths and weaknesses of the individual.

NASEF Fellows

The very vision of the federation to promote team-based video gaming in education is a very interesting project. The scholastic fellows of the NASEF include instructors, educators, and professors from all over the country. Their goal is to promote esports with the acquisition of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) concepts. The NASEF fellows include a wide network of community organizations, high schools, and middle schools. Each one of them is passionate about integrating the love of gaming with learning and form integrated scholastic esports ^[3].

The fellows have all the instructional coaching, scholastic-resources, and tools to form a vision that gaming is no joke and can help students achieve their goals in real life.

NASEF and Florida Esports

Seeing the passion of the NASEF in the development of esports, it is no surprise that the federation is investing in the State of Florida. Florida holds some of the best collegiate esports programs in the country and shares the vision of esports evolution with the NASEF. It includes collegiate esports clubs like Armada, Mocs Esports, UCF Knights, and many more. With 3 out 25 NASEF scholastic fellows are residentials of Florida which have played a vital role in the formation of Florida Scholastic Esports League!

Check out our last blog on Florida colleges in esports.

In February 2020, several districts in Florida partnered with the North America Scholastic Esports Federation to integrate STEAM and STEM learning in the high school curriculum. This way esports paves the way for teaching numerous career development skills. Miami-Dade County Public Schools are included in the project and these institutions are also members of the Florida Scholastic Esports League (FLSEL). Just like NASEF, the FLSEL is a non-profit organization that supports young adults and teenagers in the state that have a passion for gaming ^[4].

Exclusively for the state of Florida, NASEF has designed a technical and career education curriculum that includes over 20 courses for students studying in 8-12 grade. These courses focus on developing, Entrepreneurs, Content Creators, Organizers, and Strategists.

They also offer guidelines in careers involving, web development, journalism, streaming, shoutcasting, theory crafting, digital marketing, fan art, deep analysis, and event planning.

The efforts of the NASEF are also recognized by Alberta Carvalho, the Miami-Dade Superintendent. He encourages the development of esports in the State as he believes it has great relevance to students. He also believes that the integration of the esports curriculum will transform American education, making it fun and engaging. He says it will raise the interest of the young generation, and they will be anxious to learn new skills. He is confident that STEM and STEAM learning will become powerful education tools in the future. So it is great that Florida is strongly backing up this initiative ^[5].

Florida the beacon of esports

The State of Florida never shy’s from investing in the development of esports. The National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) hosts over 170 institutes that have dedicated esports varsity programs, and Florida also holds a decent number of candidates on the list. Some of the collegiate programs were initiated over 10 years ago, and now we see some of the best esports teams, like Florida Mutineers, are making a mark in the world of competitive gaming.

The Fortress is one of the biggest examples of how much they love gaming. Since back in 2019, the State invested $6 million on The Fortress. It is an 11,500 square feet esports venue where the future esports athletes can train and pursue their passion. The venue can be used to hold esports competition as it has a capacity of hosting 500 spectators. It is sponsored by tech giants like Logitech, MSI, and Draxer ^[6].

It won’t be shocking if a headline in the near future reads that NASEF is holding a thousand dollar student-level tournament in The Fortress. Since we believe that out of every state, Florida is the only one that holds the tools and passion to conduct such a competition.

Conclusion

Seeing these initiatives it is no surprise that in the next few years, NASEF is going to be among the pillars of esports in the U.S and Florida will be the prime example. Since both have similar goals and their collaboration is just what NA needs to welcome the esports industry with open arms.