Stephens College is a liberal arts educational institution for women in Columbia, Missouri. It enrolls about 900 students.
Now Stephens College has become the first women’s college to become a member of the National Association of Collegiate eSports. Beginning this fall Stephens College will field a team of eSport enthusiasts who will compete in intercollegiate video game competitions. Stephens College will offer scholarships to talented game players. It plans on fielding a team of six players with six alternates. The team from Stephens College will compete in the game “Overwatch,” which is a shooter game based in the future. Overwatch was chosen as the game the team would compete in because of a diverse set of strong characters, including women.
The college says that “eSports is quickly on its way to becoming a billion-dollar industry, and we believe women should have the same opportunities as men to succeed in this emerging business. Stephens’ mission across all our programs has been to ensure women have a seat at any table. Getting involved in eSports is part of that long-standing tradition, and aligns with our mission to promote teamwork, communication skills, as well as more interest in the science and technology fields for women.”
The college has a dedicated gaming room where the eSport team will compete. (See photo.) A trailer for the Overwatch game can be seen below.