Mission
A nonprofit founded by educators, Garden State Esports is the organizing body of scholastic esports for New Jersey. Our mission is to create high-quality, student-centered experiences through scholastic esports so ALL students can use esports as a platform to grow socially, emotionally, and academically.
Vision
To ensure that ALL students possess the knowledge and skills needed to be society’s game changers: educated, productive, and empathetic individuals.
Values
Learning. Community. Opportunity. Diversity.
Why Join Garden State Esports?
Free To Join. Free To Play. Always.
Our bottom line will always be to our students, not investors. All GSE competitions, resources, and events will always be free. During the 2021-2022 school year alone, our members saved over $475,000 in for-profit league dues by joining Garden State Esports!
Run By NJ Educators For NJ Schools And Students
GSE isn’t our job, it’s our passion. Everyone at GSE is a full-time NJ educator. Together we have 200+ years combined teaching experience. We know your schools, we know your kids, and we know how to help make esports meet the learning goals of your school district.
Play Against Local Teams Using A Familiar Schedule
Our 3:30 start time and three season schedule follows the traditional NJ athletic schedule that schools and students already know. We group teams into their traditional athletic conferences to make sure they play against schools they’ve heard of!
Earn Varsity Letters
195 colleges are offering more than $16 million in esports scholarships for talented players and support staff. Every college and university in NJ has an esports program. GSE will work with your district to develop criteria to make sure your esports team is varsity letter eligible and stakeholders understand all the post-secondary opportunities available to students.
Supported By The NJ DoE and School Boards Association
We are proud to have the support of the NJ Dept. of Education and the New Jersey School Boards Association. Check out our latest webinar with the NJBSA on why your district should join Garden State Esports on the resources page!
Esports Helps Give Kids A Sense Of Belonging:
92
% Of GSE Students Who Made At Least One New Friend Since Joining Their School's GSE Team
66
% Of GSE Students Who Are More Motivated To Go To School Since Joining Their School's GSE Team
46
% Of GSE Students Who Did Not Participate In Any Extracurricular Activities Before Esports
Competition For Everyone: Three Ways To Get In The Game With GSE
1. Championship Seasons: our highest level of competition. Play an 8-week regular season organized around your existing athletic conference for the chance to make the playoffs and win a GSE State Championship! Our State Finals are college-hosted, in-person LAN events. High Schools competing in Championship Seasons are eligible to earn varsity letters.
Fall Championship Seasons: 9/26 – 11/28
Tuesday – 3v3 Rocket League
Wednesday – Smash Bros. 3v3s
Thursday – League of Legends
Winter Championship Seasons 1/16 – 3/6
Tuesday – Rocket League: Snow Day
Wednesday – Knockout City & SSBU Crews Battles
Thursday – Overwatch 2
Spring Championship Seasons 3/6 – 5/5
Tuesday – 2v2 Rocket League
Wednesday – 2v2 Smash Bros.
Thursday – Valorant
2. Contender Leagues: our Junior Varsity experience. Enter as many teams as you like and play in shortened seasons. Contender Leagues rotate every month, so there’s always a new game or format to try!
Community Gaming Mondays
Apex Legends
Fortnite
Fall Guys
Tuesday
Rocket League
Chess
Splatoon 3
Wednesday
Super Smash Bros.
Knockout City
Thursday
Overwatch 2
Valorant
Omega Strikers
Minecraft Fridays
Bed Wars
Capture The Wool
King of The Hill
3. CODEC Contests are GSE’s game, community, and industry-based competitions that directly contribute to every student being college and career ready when they graduate from high school. Every season, students compete to become CODEC Contest winners in a wide variety of events while learning new skills and gaining hands-on experience with some of the world’s most in-demand STEAM jobs.
Community-Based Contests
Best Cosplay
Best Fandom Art
Industry-Based Contests
Best Highlight Video
Best Twitch Broadcast
Best Feature Article
Game-Based Learning Contests
Farmcraft
Cybersecurity Esports
Speedruns
We Provide
Esports Can Be A Pipeline To College and Career Readiness For All NJ Students:
87
% Of GSE Students Who Plan to Attend College After High School
54
% Of GSE Students Who Plan To Major In A STEM Field
67
% Of GSE Students Who Will Persue A Career In The Esports Or Video Game Industry
Where We Are
12
Big North Conference
5
Burlington County Conference
26
Cape Atlantic Conference
6
Colonial Conference
13
Colonial Valley Conference
241
Total Programs
14
Greater Middlesex Conference
6
Hudson County Conference
4
North Jersey Conference
18
North West Jersey Conference
17
Olympic Conference
55
% Of NJ School Districts
40
The Shore Conference
10
The Skyland Conference
10
Super Essex Conference
6
Tri-County Conference
54
Union County Conference
5723
Students
Whether your district is looking to get started or already has an established esports program, join us for free and compete against other New Jersey schools in daily casual competition or to earn a varsity letter. During the 2021-2022 school year alone, schools saved over $475,000 in for-profit league dues by joining Garden State Esports!
Join Us!
Thank You To Our Partners!
