Jake Haulotte (he/him), is the IT Specialist and Esports Coach at Kirtland Community College (KCC). The KCC esports program just began last semester, during the Spring season. Haulotte has spent about ten years in IT and got involved by playing computer games and having his own LAN parties. 

How many total students are participating on your campus?

“In our first season, we had six varsity players and about twelve club players with many more students using the gaming lab casually,” said Haulotte, “We hope to continue growing our esports program this upcoming season by recruiting more players and adding more games to our roster. Even in our first season, I saw many students gain new friends and grow socially.”

What are some of the challenges that come with college esports? 

“An esports coach usually has to wear many hats versus a traditional sport that has more staff and funding,” said Haulotte, “The most challenging part of being an esports coach is managing all of the players with different games and schedules. Getting an esports program up and running was a huge challenge but having the NJCAAE discord to ask questions really helped us out here at Kirtland.”

Growing up, Haulotte played Atari, NES, and SNES I liked RPGs like Zelda and Dragon Warrior. Now you can find him restoring and playing vintage arcade games in my basement arcade. 

Stay tuned to all things NJCAAE to keep up to date on KCC!