Grizzly Esports Earns $15,000 for Elementary School Playground
Members of the Grizzly Esports Team test new playground equipment Sept. 8 at Hawthorne Elementary School in Missoula. Emma Puryear and Logan Brewer ride the slide, while Jose Rodriquez looks out from on high. (UM photos by Ryan Brennecke)
MISSOULA – Can playing video games help build a playground?
That’s what happened at the University of Montana, where students with the Grizzly Esports Team raised $15,000 to help construct Hawthorne Elementary School’s new playground equipment. The full cost of the Missoula school’s playground project was $150,000, all donated.
On Sept. 8, several UM gamers who assisted with the fundraising effort joined Hawthorne Principal Brittnie Keilman to celebrate the opening of the new play park. They even tested out the new equipment.
“I joined Griz Esports on a whim and made some close friends doing it,” said Stuart Doyle, one of the student captains for UM’s Hawthorne fundraising effort. “It was only after our first 24-hour charity event my freshman year that I realized the esports program did so much for different communities. Once I realized that, I knew I wanted to play a larger part in it.”
“We are trying to be gamers with causes,” said Cale Patenaude, assistant director of Griz Esports. “We want to be those people in our communities lifting people up and making positive impacts.”
Patenaude admits it’s purposeful they donated to a cause that gets kids outside and off screens.
“Yeah, I think that’s the point,” he said. “We esporters do get a lot of screen time, but we also know the value of disconnecting and taking a break. You need to find your balance, and we advocate for that. So we want to get out and work on wellness, and then come back and game.”
Since launching in 2019, UM Esports has raised thousands for dollars for various charitable causes like Children’s Miracle Network, United Way, Shodair Children’s Hospital in Helena and Can the Cats, which benefits Missoula food banks. This year they launched a new program, Play it Forward, to help area schools fundraise for playground equipment.
For the Hawthorne project, UM Esports held a 24-hour video-game streaming event in the University Center’s Griz Esports Arena at the end of February. UM students played a variety of games for an online audience, and Hawthorne educators and staff were recruited to participate. UM students helped design the 24-hour fundraiser and were encouraged to be as creative as possible.
People were invited to donate with several fun incentives. For instance, when $5,000 was raised, that triggered Grizzly Esports to launch a concurrent game of Euro Truck Simulator to augment the stream. Soon a UM student – wearing a trucker hat and using a big realistic steering wheel – was driving a hyper-realistic video game truck across Europe for 23 hours straight. Patenaude said things tend to get pretty entertaining at 5 a.m. as the driver becomes more tired and frazzled.
Another incentive involved an online “Jeopardy!” game. For every $5 raised, the host had to immediately eat a hot wing, and the wings grew progressively hotter.
“It’s all about building community and supporting one another in an entertaining way,” Patenaude said. “The Hawthorne and UM extended families got involved, and we sometimes get random donations from people online who are inspired by the sheer good-naturedness of it all.”
He said the Grizzly Esports donation of $15,000 inspired a cascade of donations from other organizations that helped Hawthorne officials push through to reach their final goal of $150,000.
Patenaude said Play It Forward also included an educational component where Griz Esporters talked with Hawthorne Elementary kids in assemblies about Internet safety and how to be a good communicator, collaborator and teammate.
The UM students played non-screen games with the children. One, inspired by the Minefield video game, had Hawthorne students instructing blindfolded esports athletes through a course without hitting obstacles. They also developed a live-action Hungry Hippos-style game that involves four nets and lots of soccer balls.
“We were truly blown away by the number of college students who dedicated their time to a 24-hour gaming marathon, and who returned to our school again and again to help our students understand what esports is and how it can be a force for good in a community,” Keilman said. “Their innovative approach not only helped us raise critical funds, but also spread the word far beyond what we could have accomplished on our own. This helped us to finally reach our goal of giving our students the safe, updated playground they deserve.”
Patenaude said Grizzly Esports is going strong at UM, focusing on creating successful students, being a no-cut program and building community involvement. The organization has won two national collegiate video game championships – one for League of Legends and one for Rocket League – and over 100 students are currently on active rosters. The team also is growing the games played, adding titles like Marvel Rivals
Grizzly Esports also doles out $1,000 scholarships to many of its members, and not just the top video game performers. Additionally, awards go to those willing to be leaders, build community and participate in charitable events.
“We love to game,” Patenaude said. “But we also want to show we can have impact and care about our communities.”
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Contact: Cale Patenaude, assistant director of Grizzly Esports, 406-243-2637, cale.patenaude@umontana.edu.