Today@Sam Article

The Houstonian Hosts Extra Life Marathon

Nov. 2, 2017
SHSU Media Contact: Tyler Pointer

Story by Ethan Horn

The Houstonian, Sam Houston State University’s student-run campus newspaper, will host their second annual Extra Life 25-hour video gaming marathon starting on Saturday, Nov. 4 thru Sunday, Nov. 5 to benefit Texas Children’s Hospital and the fight against childhood cancer.

Extra Life is a charity organization founded in 2010, which encourages people to stream video games for a common goal of raising money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

The Houstonian’s livestream is a partnership with the Children’s Miracle network to help provide funds for Texas Children’s Hospital.

Editor-in-Chief of the Houstonian, Ryan Reynolds, has been looking forward to the event.

“We have hectic work weeks to get the paper out, but there’s an excitement in Extra Life Week that makes that seem small. We pull out all the stops for it, raising this money is incredibly important for us,” Reynolds said.

The game selection each year is spearheaded by Arturo Mosqueda, the Houstonian’s Campus Culture Editor.

“I spend a lot of time selecting games that will be entertaining and timely,” Mosqueda said. “We are approaching the holiday season, so if we can show off the season’s popular games for students and parents it’s a win-win for us.”

Last year, the Houstonian Extra Life team raised $525 dollars for Texas Children’s Hospital, and this year they are aiming for $1,000 raised.

From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Nov. 4, SHSU Athletes will be stopping by to play sports video games. SHSU E-sports and Quidditch teams will also be participating in the event.

“One of the guests we are most excited about is Hannah Gerber,” Horn said. “She teaches on campus, but has done research on how video games can be used in education and across different disciplines.”

To help incentivize donations for viewers, The Houstonian is also offering a handful of giveaways. Among giveaways are a bike, copies of PlayStation 4 video games and t-shirts.

“Extra Life is a fun environment for gamers and non-gamers alike to raise money for an amazing cause and have some fun.” Reynolds said.

Visit the livestream (twitch.tv/thehoustonianshsu) on Nov 4. and to donate from now until the end of the stream, click here (tinyurl.com/shsucares).

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