On February 20, 2024, Camden County College hosted round one of the Garden State Esports Collegiate Circuit (GSECC), New Jersey’s 1st in-person Intercollegiate Esports League, at the William G. Rohrer Center in Cherry Hill.
GSECC is an in-person competitive esports league for New Jersey colleges, with a goal of creating a seamless high school-to-college-to-career pathway that will keep New Jersey’s talent within the State’s educational and professional spheres. Garden State Esports, the largest high school esports league in New Jersey, serves as the league operator. Horizon AVL Esports Integration serves as the production/broadcast team.
Two area high schools (West Deptford High School and Woodbury High School), two Community Colleges (Camden County College and Brookdale Community College), two 4-year institutions (Stockton University and Rutgers University-Camden), and two industry leaders (Garden State Esports and Horizon AVL Esports Integration) were in attendance. Industry leaders were able to teach, engage and support high school and college students through an engaging experiential learning opportunity that was focused on producing a livestreamed Esports League event.
The remaining in-person competitions will take place on March 19 at Stockton University and April 16 in Brookdale Community College and will allow for local high schools to play their regular season matches before the events begin. Students then remain as spectators and shadow the collegiate teams as they compete and produce the event. At the end of the regular season, the top teams will compete live, in-person, at the Garden State Esports Spring Finals in front of 1200+ fans and local and state press.
This event was funded in part by the NJ Pathways Project for “Esports Production and Content Creation” through the New Jersey Council of Community Colleges as a way to introduce and intersect esports production-related workforce opportunities.
