By Greg Hardesty, contributing writer
Hip-hop music blared from the speakers of a radio station sponsor outside the venue.
A food truck sold Mediterranean fare, and caffeine was the fuel of choice from a tea and coffee vendor.
Inside the gymnasium at Santiago Canyon College, the vibe was young, hip – and gamer-nerd, a sea of black T-shirts, hoodies and stuffed animal mascots perched atop computer screens.
On a 40-foot-long stage, two teams squared off in front of a 20-foot-long LED video screen as the audience, seated in chairs atop a blue plastic tarp that covered the gym floor, watched them compete in the popular first-person tactical hero shooter video game “Valorant.”
Welcome to Neon Night, a first-ever event held 5-9 p.m. May 8 at SCC, the fruits of a growing Esports club on campus that, beginning this fall, will become an official sport, with tryouts for the club’s competitive team — just like cross-country, softball, beach volleyball and other traditional Hawk sports.
Massive global audience
Esports, for the uninitiated, is short for electronic sports, the competitive playing of video games.
Around, surprisingly, for more than 50 years now but launched into the stratosphere thanks to the digital age and particularly popular on college campuses, Esports today has a massive global audience, with over 380 million viewers watching events both online and in person, according to a recent CNN report.
At SCC, the Esports club has more than 150 members and 40 who compete competitively, according to Roshan Uma, an experienced Esports professional and Esports coordinator at SCC.
Many team members were on hand at Neon Night to show off their skills at an event that was several months in the making. Free and open to the public, total attendees numbered around 400.
“We have one of the largest communities on campus,” Uma said, “and we like to figure out ways to showcase that community.
“Some of our club members participated in a similar event in Los Angeles with a professional team called NRG,” he added. “They invited our team to come play to compete with Cal State University Long Beach, and we thought, ‘Why don’t we do something here?’ ”
‘A long time coming’
Although several rounds of Esports competitions were the focus of Neon Night, SCC students and students from some area high schools also participated in a Prompt-a-Thon, an AI-powered tournament where players used artificial intelligence models to solve real-world problems.
The timed competition blended creativity, strategic thinking and cutting-edge technology, culminating in a live finale on the main stage.
In addition, there were booths showcasing academic programs at SCC as well as career opportunities in tech, gaming and health care through partnerships with industry professionals.
Izzy Nguyen, an English major and Esports enthusiast who helped plan the event, said Neon Night is about community and competition.
“I see a lot of friends here,” Nguyen said. “I’m really excited I was able to help coordinate this, and I’m so thrilled it’s happening. It’s been a long time coming, and I’m glad it’s finally here.”
‘A complete success’
The AI Prompt-A-Thon at Neon Night was the fifth of the year, organized by the Orange County Regional Consortium, which includes nine community colleges and one continuing education center across four community college districts.
The consortium created the Prompt-A-Thon competition to provide students with the opportunity to showcase their problem-solving and communication and help them master skills with new tools such as ChatGPT.
“I thought Neon Night was a complete success,” said Michael Sacoto, interim executive director, Orange County Regional Consortium, Rancho Santiago Community College District.
“The energy and excitement were at a high level throughout the event,” Sacoto said. “I truly enjoyed the fact that students were able to participate in several competitions that made them the main event of the evening.
“Keeping students at the center of anything we do as educators always leads to the best outcomes.”
Engaging in education
The Esports competition went throughout the night, the blasts of gunfire and action from the video game at times drowning out speakers at the AI competition.
“Prompt-a-Thon can help a community understand the value of (career and technical education) and understand how workplace technology is evolving,” said Julia Shin, a third-year high school student at Oxford Academy in Cypress.
“I’ve been interested in entering the biotechnology field,” Shin said, “so the experience helped me to understand how AI might be integrated in future positions. I feel that specialized events like these would help students to see the value in developing technology, since after Prompt-a-Thon, I do feel an interest in using AI to detect and preemptively address diseases.”
Uma was thrilled he and a team of Esports club members were able to pull off Neon Night – and hopes it becomes a regular event at SCC.
“It just really highlights genuinely a shift in getting students engaged in their education,” he said. “A lot of students find more meaning coming to the campus to participate in an event like this.”