Interview with Andrew Schultz, President of Oglethorpe University Smash Club

The Oglethorpe University Smash Club has easily become one of the university’s most popular clubs in the past two years with the hard work and dedication of sophomore Andrew Shultz, current president of the renowned organization.

The humble beginnings of the club can be traced back to Shultz’s high school when he and his friends played the popular game after school thanks to his high school physics teacher that hosted their unofficial meetings on Fridays. After graduation, Shultz decided to continue the club and share in the experiences and revelry of enjoying and connecting through video games.

Shultz admitted that in the beginning he wasn’t “really a leadership kind of person” but after graduation, he “thought it would be cool if I were to come [to Oglethorpe] and try to start [over] and try to be the leader of something.” And he, along with his club, is becoming wildly successful at their goals.

After coming to Oglethorpe, Shultz started playing Super Smash Bros. with two of his friends whenever time allowed them to, and “by word-of-mouth alone,” Smash Club began into the social powerhouse that can be seen every Friday at 5:00 in the Turner Lynch Campus Center Game Room.

However, Shultz realizes that this club has the possible potential to qualify as an E-Sports team. He claims that “Atlanta is one of the biggest locations where E-Sports is popular.” E-Sports is a growing sports division that focuses mainly on competitive gaming on all types of gaming platforms. Shultz sees E-Sports as “a sport in its own right” and as a “competitive [pastime] where people compare wits to see who is better at it.”

He recently spoke with Mason Peterson, head of the E-Sports Division in Atlanta, and is currently communicating with him and the Student Government Association to build Smash Club into a competitive gaming team and have them represent Oglethorpe University to local and regional tournaments around Atlanta and gaming conventions such as Dreamhack 2019.

Shultz has dedicated much time and effort into creating the Smash Club here at Oglethorpe University, and his success shows through students of various backgrounds coming to play as well as the club becoming a popular selling point during tours of the campus. His success can only grow faster with the support of the students and faculty here at Oglethorpe University.