RDPSD Esports Academy Announces New Look and Name

As the esports phenomenon continues to captivate a growing global audience, students in Red Deer Public’s Esports Academy have harnessed their enthusiasm for gaming to craft a brand and logo that encapsulates the essence of their collective spirit.

The Red Deer Public Schools Esports Academy is happy to announce they are now the home of the “Red Deer Public Esports Academy Leviathans”.

The program, which launched earlier this year at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School, in consultation with various stakeholders and led by the student’s growing understanding of marketing and journalism, began the process of creating a brand and logo for the new program in early September. This student-led initiative is a testament to the Academy's commitment to fostering a dynamic and inclusive community, where students are not just participants but active contributors to the evolving culture of esports education.

The Leviathans was one of 18 possible names the students identified and experimented with in determining the direction and brand of the program. “The Leviathans” was quickly identified as one of the top three options available and the students began the work of developing the logo and identifying the core values of the program.

The Leviathans value respect for fellow peers, education through gaming, and creating a positive attitude and environment towards school. The program strives to educate students in a team-based learning environment, and aims to open pathways to future career opportunities in multiple industries including gaming, IT, marketing, journalism, and esports. The name rises from the concept of monsters rising from the depths to triumph against not just other teams but also the obstacles that people face in their day-to-day lives.

The program’s logo was determined after reviewing potential sample logos and draft ideas from each of the potential team names and concepts that the students had created. Almost 200 different logo iterations were developed, considered and explored in the process of creating the final team logo. The logo’s bright colours speak to our modern perspective as we strive to grow and improve as a program and as students while also calling back to the digital norm of our members' daily lives. The green was chosen as a reflection of the original green font from the Apple 2e computers that helped mark the birth of early competitive gaming and coding. The headphones speak to modern advances that have been made in the industry as it continues to grow and change. The Lovecraft inspired mascot speaks to the things we have yet to learn and to the ancient and universal appeal of gaming over time while also connecting to the English Language Arts and writing requirements of the program.

We would like to extend our gratitude and appreciation to our industry volunteers and specialists that volunteered to help the students to refine the team name and logo as the student worked through this process including volunteers from Epic Games, Bungie Studios, Bioware Games, Satchi & Satchi Advertising Co., Red Deer Public Schools Community Relations department, and Seaspan Consulting Services Ltd.

The Academy started as an after-school club in 2017 to help alleviate the need for people to strive, thrive and do what they enjoy just as much as more traditional sports would. The club was started as a result of a student initiative to create a team for their favourite games including ‘League of Legends’ and competed in online tournaments against other high schools in North America. Eventually, the club also began to host events such as a ‘Students versus Teachers’ competition to promote non-traditional sports and competition in the school. This eventually evolved into a larger group of people with multiple games and teams competing in several tournaments simultaneously. Over the last few years, the two or three teams per semester has grown into eight or 10 teams every semester, which led to the Red Deer Public School District creating a formal academy with the mission of determining how to promote non-traditional, competitive sports while also promoting academic excellence for the students in the program and engaging them in their passions and interests.

 The purpose of the Leviathans is to incorporate games into education. As a school organisation, we are strongly focused on academic success, and developing our professional work skills and habits while we pursue our hobby and passion for gaming. This season alone we have competed with other teams and clubs from across North America in numerous games and are looking forward to building on our successes this season.

If you have any questions or would like more information about the program, please feel free to reach out to either Leanne Gosse or Dan Mills. Thank you once again to the entire staff at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School for all your support, patience, and flexibility in getting this new program off the ground and in helping the Red Deer Esports Academy Leviathans to rise.