In the near future it might not be uncommon to see Powell High School students working together to win video games during their lunch hour while others prepare for a military career.

After passing the school’s requirements for a student to be able to propose a club, three clubs were brought before the Park County School District 1 board on Tuesday, including an esports club, an Army JROTC and Project Unify club.

“We're excited to see more opportunities for students to get involved in, and that's been a board and a district goal for us for the last several years,” Powell High School Principal Tim Wormald said. “And we've got great staff and faculty that are stepping up and willing to help out and they are student-led clubs … so that provides some leadership opportunities for the students, which is something that we're excited about as well. I think all of them are very worthwhile.”

The Junior ROTC clubs had been discussed in the past, Superintendent Jay Curtis said. The original request was for a full fledged JROTC which is a larger process, “you don’t just decide one day and make it happen.”

The esports club shares a sponsor with the Junior ROTC in Tim Heine; esports has also seen success as a program at Northwest College. 

“I am so surprised that this is the first time we're ever seeing [a request for an esports club] because this has blown up all over the country … so I think these are our three very worthy clubs to add to our high school,” Curtis said. 

The esports club will have no upfront cost and games can be run on existing school equipment. 

“[Technology coordinator] Mike Reed sees it as a valuable thing. He helped me put my head around it a little bit,  it's really not about the individual competing against another individual,” Wormald said. “It's the strategy that goes into it, so I'm a part of a team and I'm working alongside other people to help our team win the game.”

The high schoolers won’t be playing quite as large a variety of games as the NWC team, as games need to be in line with school policy. Students would likely be playing competitive games, but not first person shooters. Students would also likely be using their lunch period and designated computer labs to take part in the club, Wormald said.

Project Unify brings students of different abilities together to “create a more inclusive community,” the clubs proposal said. The organization connects to unified sports which has been happening across the state and is supported by activities associations, Wormald said. He added that teachers have students who have been doing unified activities unofficially. The hope is that creating an official club will lend legitimacy and increase involvement. 

“We know through our work on our strategic plan, students who are engaged in one or more activity or athletics are far more successful in school,” Curtis said. “It is not because of anything inherent in those clubs, it has everything to do with feeling safe and secure and a sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves … there really isn't any part of the school that is not benefited by having rich opportunities for our kids to participate in clubs.”