The Connecticut Cup for Middle Schools, a 4-week long, after-school Esports program for three of our middle schools, was hosted by Stay Plugged In & Stay+ in November and December of 2024.
On Mondays, students learned about STEM Content Creation skills including graphic design with Canva and video editing with CapCut, while also speaking with virtual guest speakers from a variety of different fields including the NBA, the Hartford Film Company, Houston Outlaws, UCONN, Quinnipiac University, Syracuse University, and the University of Hartford.
On Tuesdays, students competed in Rocket League and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate against the involved schools. At the conclusion of the Connecticut Cup, prizing was awarded to individuals for their work in the STEM portion and all schools were awarded for their involvement in the Esports competition.
Student participants were:
Annie Fisher STEM Magnet School: Matthew Bradley, Lawrence Saunders, Josiah Vassel, Sri Nakul Ganesh, Aiden Belnavis, Joaniel Nunez, J'adora White, Ricardo Lucas, Stephen Stewart, Darran Pottinger, Tristan Thompson, Nathan Joseph, Kyle Webster, Adrian Lopez, Xavier Dedo, Jayden Pettiford
Betances STEM Magnet School: Caleb Gutierrez, Owen Rankings, Yael Rivera Cosme, Eli Marrero, Sharwin Senthil, Fernando Melendez, Jadiel Gonzalez, Bilal Tartt, Shivansh Bisht, Ashwarth Prakash, Xavier Hernandez
Breakthrough Magnet School South: Saniya Thompson, Brayden Ortiz, Amir Young, Tristan Brown, Jaydrian DeLeon Cruz, Isaiah Timothy, Gio Amaral, Isaiah Perry
For the Esports side, Stay Plugged In has decided to split the prizing evenly among the three programs based on performance, to be distributed to the students! Everyone did exceedingly well in the competition.
For the STEM side, the placing students are listed here!
1. Aiden Belnavis
2. Lawrence Saunders
3. Nakul Ganesh
4. Amir Young & Josiah Vassell
5. Giovanni Amaral
6. Saniya Thompson & Isaiah Timothy - for graphic design work
Justin Ellis, Director of Education at Stay Plugged In states, "All of the students put together fantastic work, making something that they should all be extremely proud of, so Stay Plugged In is excited to be able to recognize so many students that were involved! Thank you all again for your participation in the CT Cup. It was an absolutely fantastic season, and we are really hopeful to continue our work and support for Hartford schools."
These programs are covered largely through school grants, corporate donations, and through our work with the Be Elite Foundation.