Students have eased themselves into the academic year and Mineski Philippines’ Youth Esports Program (YEP), in partnership with Moonton, held its Back To School campaign to resounding success in igniting the gaming passion of students through various activities last October.
”We thought of ways to engage our followers and the public through our platform as an organization that aims to promote responsible gaming and to help students take off some heat from academics. Thankfully, our partners at Moonton were kind enough to partner with us with our Back To School program, and over the span of four weeks, we were able to engage our students in a Mobile Legends weekly tournament, fanart contest, and writing contest,” said YEP director Marlon “Lon” Marcelo.
Standing in the winners’ circle for the Mobile Legends Back to School grand champion is team Phebby N Friends from the Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST) composed of users:
· Jerryco
· Calitzy
· Kidlat
· Babi Babs
· Zoroester
Meanwhile, in the fanart competition, the first-place winners for the freehand and digital art categories who were able to embody the weekly theme handed out by the YEP the most were:
· Week 1
Ginki Saga (University of Cebu LM)
Jerwin a.k.a. Noko Gaming (Cebu Normal University)
· Week 2
· Scott Evans Villahermosa (University of Cebu)
· Khaila Diaz (Cavite State University)
· Week 3
· Seneca Jen Rilloraza (St. Mary’s University)
· Lloyd Rosalin (Vinzons Pilot High School)
· Week 4
· Chris Joshua Gonio (EARIST)
· Jon Lester Lau (Vinzons Pilot High School)
Lastly, there was the writing competition where the entrants gave their well-thought out pieces based on the weekly themes posted by the YEP Facebook page. The first-place winners for each week in the English and Tagalog categories are:
· Week 1
· Angel Kate Escabillas (Science and Technology Education Center)
· Marc Real Roy Rodriguez (Compostela National High School)
· Week 2
· Christian Balagoza (Bulacan State University)
· Frederick Escamillan (Advance Institute of Technology, Inc.)
· Week 3
· Edgar Dumalaog, Jr. (Caloocan City Science High School)
· John Joyd Diano (University of Cebu LM)
· Week 4
· Nylson James Villaflor (Cagayan De Oro College)
· Jeff Paolo Sabanal (Ateneo de Naga)
The winning entries of the students are all available on the Facebook page of YEP. The prizes given away by YEP and Moonton amounted to Php 105,000 and 91,000 worth of diamonds for use in Mobile Legends.
YEP’s Back to School program kicked off with their YEP Talks, where professionals from the esports industry and the academe gave students more insight on what happens in competitive esports and how gaming actually helps them stay more focused when it is time to hit the books. Aside from that, YEP and Moonton also initiated weekly “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang” cups where 329 teams from 170 schools across the country registered and competed over four weeks.
While the action was explosive in the land of Dawn, students were also encouraged to submit their fanart of their favorite Mobile Legends character and game moments. Another contest in the Back To School program of YEP was the writing contest wherein students were tasked to submit written pieces based on the weekly theme posted on YEP’s Facebook page. A total of 141 written works were sent in by students while the fanart garnered 254 entries for the four weeks of competition.
“YEP’s Back to School program is an opportunity for students to display their love and passion for gaming and we hope to be able to continue this with YEP in the future as the reception, especially the weekly cups, was a resounding success,” said William Mei of Moonton, the publisher of the wildly-popular Mobile Legends: Bang Bang game.
The YEP is a collaboration between Mineski Philippines and the Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) to develop future esports talent in the country through students. The YEP promotes esports as a healthy, responsible, and legitimate extra-curricular activity for the country’s youth.
Schools and student organizations interested in partnering with the Youth Esports Program may email them at yep@mineski.net or message them on Facebook at facebook.com/youthesportsprogram.
