*By Britt Terrell*
The dreams of teenagers everywhere will come true this fall, when video gaming becomes an official high school sport, sponsored by the National Federation of State High School Associations.
The best high school gamers can earn scholarships to college and turn what used to be considered a distraction into a part of their extracurricular experience.
"There will be millions and millions of kids every year ー especially in the U.S. ー who participate in eSports in an organized way," said Delane Parnell, founder and CEO of Play VS, the startup that will bring an eSports league to nearly 20,000 high schools across the country.
There are already about 200 colleges in North America that offer eSports scholarships, according to Parnell. PlayVS will help these schools recruit in a more organized way, and raise the profile of the best high-school gamers.
"We're excited to be able to own that system as a company," Parnell said in an interview with Cheddar. "We're going to loop in some recruiting technology directly into the platform in which recruiters from colleges will be able to easily recruit players in terms of engaging with them but then also be able to see their performance data from an individual stand point and a team performance stand point validated."
PlayVS is working with game publishers to determine which games will be included in the inaugural high-school season.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/esports-is-coming-to-a-school-near-you).
Telecom giants AT&T and Verizon have agreed to delay activating their 5G services around airports and runways once again. This comes after major U.S. airlines voiced their concern over the rollout of 5G technology, warning of an impending "catastrophic" aviation crisis. Peter Andersen, Chief Investment Officer, Anderson Capital Management joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Earnings season kicks into high gear this week as big players are on tap to report their Q4 numbers. Goldman Sachs, Procter & Gamble, United Airlines, and Netflix are just a few of the companies we're keeping a close eye on to give us a better idea of how they're dealing with the Omicron variant, inflation and interest rates. David Nelson, chief strategist at Belpointe, gives a preview of what to expect.
Thomas Hayes, Chairman at Great Hill Capital, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to break down what to look for on the economic front in the coming months amid an Omicron surge and planned interest rate hikes.
Mike McGlone, Senior Commodity Strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says he believes we'll eventually see Bitcoin reach the $100,000 mark despite its recent struggles, and explains why Bitcoin will be less volatile than the Nasdaq.
Food waste is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Strella Biotechnology is trying to solve the problem by introducing new technology to a business that's been around for generations -- farming. The 24-year-old CEO created hi-tech sensors that interpret the shelf life of produce and alert farmers when fruits and vegetables are ready to be sent to supermarkets. The company says the process can help farmers make money, reduce food waste and increase the quality of produce. Strella Biotechnology's co-founder and CEO Katherine Sizov and co-founder and COO Jay Jordan joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
Hugh Odom, founder and president of Vertical Consultants, shared his expertise on telecommunications with Cheddar on the safety issue raised about 5G deployment by airlines. The installation was partially delayed again on Tuesday as the airlines warned of potentially catastrophic delays in a letter to the Biden administration. Later, both Verizon and AT&T relented and put a pause on some of the implementations. "The first thing the Biden administration needs to do is get everybody in the room and say, look, aviation industry, identify the problem — wireless industry, come up with a solution," said Odom.
