Benedict College News November 11, 2020 Benedict College Partners with Blaze Fire Games To Launch a New eSports Club The Tigers Host Benedict's First eSports Madden and NCAA College Football Challenge Benedict College partnered with Blaze Fire Games to launch a new eSports Club on the Midlands campus. The Tigers join a large and growing world of electronic sports, recently hosted the first eSport Madden and NCAA College Football Tournament with two first-place winners. "Esports is one of the world's fastest-growing sports. It is a billion-dollar industry with a combined projected global audience of 557 million by 2021," said Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis, President and CEO of Benedict College. Isaiah Reese, CEO and Co-Founder of Blaze Game, said the 360 partnership would emphasize content creation, innovation, and how to leverage gaming and technology as a professional career pathway. As part of the program, participants will have access to industry micro-credentialing certificates in subjects such as Intro to eSports, Coaching, Broadcasting, eSports Digital Marketing, eSports Project Management, AI Gaming Analytics, and Health and Wellness. "We are extremely excited to launch the esports and competitive team community with Benedict College as its partner." said Reese, "This agreement will allow our company to break down barriers and introduce the Benedict Tigers to a 2-billion-dollar gaming esports industry." The College's Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER) organized the Football Tournament under Dr. Paula Shelby, eSports Club Program Director. First-place winners were eSports Club President Keivonte Gallman in the NCAA College Football category and Jayden Lockett in the Madden category. "Congratulations to Jayden Lockett and Keivonte Gallman on their first-place wins during our inaugural eSports Tournament," said Dr. Artis. The Benedict College eSport Club is accepting new gamers, if you would like to join, contact: douglas.elliott@benedict.edu or paula.shelby@benedict.edu or call 803-705-4775. Sandra M. Phoenix HBCU Library Alliance Executive Director Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library 111 James P. Brawley Drive SW Atlanta GA 30314 404-978-2118 (office) 404-702-5854 (cell) http://www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> Honor the ancestors, honor the children and those yet to come. Building Capacity for Humanities Special Collections at HBCUs - Become an ally and partner with us to protect, preserve and share a more authentic record of American history. Follow this link http://hbculibraries.org/humanities-2019.html for more information. Follow this link http://hbculibraries.org/ and click on the Donate Now button to invest in this project. Your support is appreciated. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/hbculibraryalliance1/ and Twitter at https://twitter.com/HBCULibAlliance Check out "PULSE!" The HBCU Library Alliance's News Source! - https://hbculibraryalliance.wordpress.com/