I'm at PennWest Edinboro. I've been invited here to learn more about something I find to be very intriguing and exciting. Esports or competitive video gaming. I'm watching students from 8 schools in Northwestern Pennsylvania who also have been invited to campus. They've been invited to take part in an esports competition. In one room is a tournament for a game called Rocket League. Teams of three are squaring off against each other. In another room, the game of Super Smash Bros. is underway.

A day away from school to play video games? Who's allowing this? Well. It's sponsored by the Tri-County Intermediate Unit, (IU5) a consortium of school districts in Erie, Crawford and Warren counties. Why would educators encourage esports? I asked Joy Shaffer. She is the School Improvement Services Supervisor at IU5.

"There is a population of students in our schools that are doing this already at home,” she says. “So we can bring them together and talk to them about how working together as a team in a game is building those skills that are needed in the workplace."

It's not just educators that are encouraging these young gamers to pursue a career in esports. Joe McAllister works for Insight, a global technology solutions company. Insight is one of many tech companies that are also sponsoring this event.

"There was a survey years ago from CEO's looking at what they want to see from their employees, says Joe. “It was collaboration, communication, critical thinking, all those skills that we can work on in esports.”

Esports is big business. The top game players in the world make a lot of money and millions of people watch them play online. However, there's other ways to make money in esports. Colton Shaffer came to PennWest Edinboro to play esports on the intercollegiate level. He will eventually be the director of the entire program on campus. He knows all about the careers available through competitive gaming.

"There's production, There's IT, There's graphic design. There's art. If you want to go into broadcasting, there's broadcasting,” says Colton.

This day of fun and education is ending with James Clark, a sophomore at Northwestern High School, winning the Super Smash Bros. tournament. He's the champion, but he is learning even more about himself at this event.

"I definitely would like to learn more about mechanics and how the games function themselves. And about all the programming behind it. I just find it really interesting,” says James.

According to Joe McAllister of Insight, there's an esports state championship tournament in all 50 states distributing a total of $25 million in scholarships. I am surprised that not many female students are taking part in the tournament here at Edinboro.