There’s a new way to connect at CIAT: the CIAT Gaming Club. It’s a brand-new community for students and alums who want to play, compete, and build friendships around a shared love of gaming.
Whether you’re grinding ranked matches every night or you’ve never touched a controller outside of family game night, the club has a spot for you.
Studying IT and cybersecurity is demanding. Between coursework, certifications, and job prep, students need a way to decompress and connect with people who get it. Gaming fits naturally, not just as a hobby, but as a way to build the soft skills employers in tech actually look for: teamwork, communication, strategy under pressure, and leadership.
The club gives students three main things:
From casual game nights to ranked tournaments, there’s a format for every kind of player. Members can join leagues, form teams, and rep CIAT in matchups against other schools.
Gaming is better with a crew. The club is a low-pressure way to meet other students and alums, build a peer network, and make friends who share your interests outside class.
Every match hones real-world skills. Teamwork, decision-making, and leadership sharpen in-game, and those same skills carry directly into the workplace.
The Gaming Club runs on three pillars:
Casual and themed nights across popular titles, built for stress relief and community, not pressure.
Team formation, tournaments, and league play give members room to compete, while also highlighting esports career paths in coaching, broadcast, event production, and game design.
Regular meetups connect current students with alums and mentors, building relationships that last beyond graduation.
Not everyone’s on campus at the same time, so the club runs regular virtual hangouts too. Members can expect:
For members who want to test their skills, the club fields teams across multiple game genres and formats, with internal tournaments, cross-school matchups, and organized league play. Brackets are beginner-friendly with open registration, so first-timers are just as welcome as seasoned competitors.
Esports is a legitimate and fast-growing industry, with career paths beyond playing, including coaching, broadcast, event production, and game design.
The club is guided by Phil Blas, Associate Dean of Education for CIAT’s Computer Information Systems (CIS) program. With more than 30 years of IT leadership experience across healthcare and education, Phil brings mentorship and real industry perspective to the club.
The CIAT Gaming Club is open to all current students and alums; no experience required, no skill level too casual or too competitive. Join today, find your crew, and be part of something worth logging on for.
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