This educator hopes to start a high school for esports and gaming. Here are her plans
A graduate of UT Arlington and TCU is raising money to start a private high school dedicated to helping students kick start careers in the esports and gaming industry.
Lindsey Dixon started META Education Inc. because she doesn’t think traditional schools are working for every student. META stands for Most Effective Tactics Available. It’s a gaming term, and it encompasses Dixon’s mission to provide students with effective learning.
The school’s goal is to provide an affordable option for personalized learning. The for-profit startup will launch in Dallas.
META will be a full-time high school program dedicated to career development in the esports and gaming industry, allowing high school students who have an interest in building their careers in these industries to spend half of their time working on core content education and the other half working on career development.
Dixon earned her MBA from TCU in 2020 after graduating from UT Arlington with her master’s in 2015. She has worked on META Education Inc. for about a year. She received $100,000 in start-up support from Dallas Incorporated, a private investment firm, incubator and innovation consultancy that funds DFW startups.
“META is a phenomenal concept that can create the jobs and industry of the future,” said Charlie Lass, the founder and CEO of Dallas Incorporated. “But, execution is more important than an idea, and I believe Lindsey has the passion, drive and creativity to be an excellent entrepreneur. We’re proud to be helping her.”
With Dallas Incorporated’s mentorship and consulting, Dixon plans to take her idea from the pitch deck to reality before the next school year begins.
What META will offer students
“One of the silver linings of the terrible thing that was COVID is that families can now see that school doesn’t necessarily have to look the way it’s looked for the past 100 years to be effective,” Dixon said.
META will combine the “best of both worlds” from in-person and online school, Dixon said.
Core classes will be customized based on the student’s academic goals and will be taken virtually, but students will still attend school each day to work on group projects and attend internships.
Students will build portfolios through project-based learning and internships.
“They’re getting access to an incredible, career launching experience before they graduate high school,” Dixon said.
Students will not be grouped by grade but by career interest, whether it is marketing, content creation, business management and entrepreneurship, esports athletics and team management, or game design and development.
“So instead of just splitting kids up arbitrarily by age, you’ve grouped them together by passion, drive, desire and career goal,” Dixon said.
The facilities at META will be different too. The classrooms will resemble a co-working space and content creation studios will be available to students.
“A lot of high schools will have a gym and an auditorium. Instead, we will have an esports competition arena,” Dixon said.
Each location will have about 100 students. META is looking to have three locations within the first two years, but locations will depend on market research, cost and interest level, Dixon said.
Curby Alexander, a TCU associate professor of education, said providing students with a more authentic experience in a controlled environment is effective at helping students feel confident and competent in their abilities and helps generate interest in what they are studying.
META will function as a private school in order to have the freedom to create a personalized program without the constraints of traditional public schools, Dixon said.
She said the tuition cost has not been determined, but she plans to model other private schools who use work study partnerships to help students cover the cost.
Dixon’s inspiration
Dixon has nearly 15 years experience in the education field. She’s taught in private, public and charter schools, helped train teachers and academic deans, worked in campus professional development and curriculum and program design. Her inspiration for META came from seeing the impact of personalized education when she worked as the academic dean at a private school in Dallas.
“It was always in the back of my mind, like ‘I really wish I could create a cool model like this that more people can afford,’” Dixon said.
Dixon narrowed her focus to esports and gaming because of demand. While the industry is growing, there is a limited “talent pipeline,” into the industry, Dixon said.
She went back to school in 2018 to pursue an MBA in entrepreneurship/entrepreneurial studies at TCU to figure out how to develop a personalized but affordable school model.
“By connecting the students with these companies and helping to develop their career potential, I think that this business has the opportunity to create a ton of value for these students and for the companies that will ultimately employ them,” said Ryan Krause, an associate professor of strategy at TCU.
Dixon’s family also inspired the idea. Her brothers are both “big gamers” and, in high school, they weren’t traditional athletes.
“If I could create an environment for kids like that, where they could feel empowered and feel like they could thrive, how different would that have been for him?” Dixon said.
Esports is one of the fastest growing industries, said Chris Chaney, the founder and managing partner of C4+, a private investment and advisory firm that primarily works across the esports and gaming industries. There’s a “plethora of opportunities” for young, ambitious individuals, Chaney said.
“I hope that we can continue to create a new standard for what school can look like. And hopefully, at some point, should look like,” Dixon said.
This story was originally published June 23, 2021 at 5:20 AM.