On May 31st Acting Director of the UCI eSports program, Mark Deppe, was awarded ANTrepreneur of the year. He is the second person to receive the award at the universities’ Blackstone LaunchPad, and is proud to turn his vision of gaming here at UCI into something much bigger.
In 2015, Mark began having ideas for the universities’ future with online gaming. After realizing just how involved the campus’ gaming club was, he knew that it would interest many students to take this to the next level and that contributing to the eSports scene would be beneficial for the campus. Since then, he has been able to provide multiple opportunities for the culture to grow. This includes the implementation of the eSports arena as well as scholarships for incoming students that are top tier League of Legends players.
If things go well, Mark hopes that the university will be able to offer even more scholarships to high skill players in a variety of different games. Already, many students are excited to be a part of the collegiate experience and to be able to witness this movement happening here at UCI.
Keeping an open eye for the community and the ambition to drive competition, entertainment and academics in gaming, Mark will lead UCI eSports with aspiration that other schools will join this initiative to create similar programs of their own.
