More than 30 attendees enjoyed the chance to meet and greet as ESSEF held its 2nd Annual Gala on Saturday evening, January 10th. The venue of Great Lakes Gaming was selected as a Western New York location with attendees sharing a view of Rochester at Innovation Square, high above the city. A formal meeting of the Board took place early in the afternoon in which outgoing Board Member William Dergosits was recognized for his contributions to help establish ESSEF, with special mention given to his advocacy for iRacing throughout New York state. Bill will remain an active Community Manager for the organization going forward. In his place, Rochester area resident and 585 FighterZ founder Daniel Humphrey was welcomed as a new Board Member. Daniel shared his experiences running his Esports entertainment business and its numerous programs focused upon cultivating community-based gaming among the youth of Rochester. In his role as an employee of Great Lakes Gaming, and thanks to cooperation with Rochester City Officials, youth players are provided with safe spaces to enjoy competition and support from the Esports community. Daniel graciously expressed gratitude for being a board member of ESSEF while giving examples of just how powerful Esports and its curriculum to develop academic and gaming-based skills has been in his own life, and for the inner-city youth players of Rochester. This included his objective of giving back to the community by way of several year-round fundraising and charitable events. Following Daniel’s talk, Ben Garvey, as overall venue host, shared his journey from having been a student at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) to becoming a young entrepreneur who now successfully operates Great Lakes Gaming. The gathering space was a featured part of this year’s Gala with attendees able to try their hand at a variety of state-of-the-art Esports and computer-based games situated on the 22nd Floor. Ben’s presentation emphasized the tremendous growth and interest in the Esports industry within the Western New York region. On a personal level, Ben noted one of his greatest achievements was knowing that the gaming organization that he established at RIT is still successfully running five years on. Ben thanked ESSEF while extending an invitation to work together in order to continue to develop opportunities similar to this for youth and Esports in the future.
The mood was upbeat when ESSEF President Scott Beiter outlined the steady growth ESSEF has shown over the past year. You can see that presentation at this link. Scott provided a detailed report on the achievements, finances, and strengthening partnerships forged during 2025. This included his efforts on behalf of the Non-Profit to obtain business sponsors early in the year and later his tremendous gratitude for having several organizations come forward to become part of the New York Scholastic Esports movement. Scott noted that the scope of the organization is also growing as plans to establish titles for Middle School Esports are already underway. A highlight of the evening took place when Scott introduced and presented a one-of-a-kind Impact Award, on behalf of ESSEF, to Joey Gawrysiak, PhD, who is the current Executive Director of Esports and Professor of Practice at Syracuse University. Syracuse modern and soon-to-be expanding Esports venue at the Schine Student Center has served as a welcoming host to several recent ESSEF Championships. Joey accepted the Award by giving a rousing call-to-action to maintain and build upon the momentum that now exists in the academic arena for Esports. Although gracious in his acceptance of the award, he gave heartfelt praise to all attendees for their dedication to bringing Esports to the forefront in the lives of our school communities and statewide. He noted that many people deserve equal recognition for their efforts at Syracuse and, especially, his team on staff. Joey has witnessed, first-hand, how Esports is shaping future generations as student leaders and college graduates, and he is excited to have everyone play a role. The emcee for the evening was ESSEF Board Member and Treasurer Jeffrey Charamie. He concluded the formal presentations by inviting guests to enjoy conversation among friends, a bountiful buffet, time for game exploration throughout the facility, including a full iRacing simulator brought in from Palmyra-Macedon (Pal-Mac) High School, and support of the organization through the purchase of raffle tickets. As the Event came to a close it became clear that the accomplishments of ESSEF in their second year of existence have formed a firm and far-reaching foundation for an exciting 2026. ESSEF looks forward to having you become involved and thanks everyone who has contributed time, energy, and financial support during the past year. Watch for photos from the Event, here, on our website and by following ESSEF on social media:
Also, please feel free to reach out, anytime, with ideas and/or questions. You can contact Scott Beiter at [email protected] or offer feedback on this year’s Event by contacting [email protected].
On behalf of the Empire State Scholastic Esports Federation, we look forward to sharing in the successes of all stakeholders involved with scholastic Esports in New York State in 2026!