By Pu Chun Zhu, ISB Alumni Relations, and Nick Yates, ISB Communications
Published on Tuesday, October 24, 2023
International School of Beijing (ISB) alumni and friends are invited to a November 25 reunion event in Shanghai featuring a panel discussion with former students with professional experience in the video games industry.
This is a follow-up to a recent event on campus where the video games alumni talked topics including psychology, health, and career opportunities in this booming sector. On September 28, “Esports: More Than a Game” was the first event of a new guest speaker series set to bring a range of experts to ISB.
Ivan Tsang (ISB Class of 2014, a game designer at Tencent Games), Lexy Chiu (Class of 2011, formerly of Riot Games), and Eugene Tseng (Class of 2010, experienced in the esports industry, including as a professional player) led workshops and discussions for around 100 people. Michael Chen, an ISB alumni and current member of faculty who leads a Middle School esports club, acted as emcee.
The Shanghai ISB alumni reunion will have Ivan Tsang and Eugene Tseng as keynote speakers covering a broader range of topics in the entertainment industry.
In the medals
It’s no surprise that lots of ISB students, parents, and alumni are interested in video games! Games have grown from a niche hobby in the 1980s to the point where the market for games is valued in the hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars today. Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games that’s gaining increasing recognition around the world. It was even included for the first time as an official medal sport at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September. While there are fears about gaming and health, many believe in video games’ role in a balanced lifestyle.
Speakers and guests at the first ISB Leadership Talk
ISB psychologist Bronwyn Schickerling took part in a discussion with the alumni on gaming psychology and health.
“Competing in esports is not just about playing video games, it requires hours of focused practice, game analysis, and gameplay review,” said Eugene Tseng, stressing the skills and discipline that can be developed through gaming as well as the friends and connections that he had made through gaming.
This was the first event in the ISB Leadership Talk Series, which will bring in experts including from ISB’s alumni network for talks open to the school’s own students and parents and the wider community. Alumni involvement in the series is the latest example of the large Dragon alumni network benefiting the current student body.
ISB community events to look forward to
While future ISB Leadership Talks were still in the planning phase at time of writing, the school is hoping to line up speakers to focus on topics including AI, arts, and social issues. Any ISB alumni interested in taking part in the ISB Leadership Talk Series should please contact the alumni office at alumni@isb.cn.
The reunion event at the Bull & Claw in Shanghai on Saturday, November 25 is open to ISB alumni, alumni of other international schools, and alumni of Tsinghua University’s Schwarzman Scholars Program, with which ISB has partnered in a leadership training scheme. This will be an evening of dinner and games strengthening peer relationships in the ISB community on Thanksgiving Weekend! See this flyer for full details and how to sign up.