OU Giving Day Round Up

OU Giving Day was held on April 14, 2022, an event to encourage donations to a wide variety of departments and organizations across OU. OU Esports held a 24-hour livestream that hosted various panels.

The panels included interviews and discussions from all the different pillars. Austin “RexGoDragon” Ngyuen, Solidus Leadership Awardee, MCed for the stream. The goal of the stream was to raise money for the OU Esports Solidus Scholarships, annual scholarships given to members of the organization. The donation goal was set at $10,000.

Throughout the day, panels were hosted by various leaders in OU Esports. 

In the early morning, various members of the stream team lead sections of the stream. Jack “Ajax” Boyd, Halo Coach and Solidus Ambassador Awardee, hosted a panel and streamed alongside other members of the stream team.

“It was a great experience as we were able to interact with so much of our community during the stream (and we were also able to) raise money for future scholarships for students,” Boyd said over Discord.

They played games such as “Golf with your Friends” and “Team Fight Tactics”. Half way through the stream, OU Esports had already made $6420 in donations.

The late morning consisted of panels hosted mostly by Solidus Leadership Awardee and Intercollegiate Esports Director Jonathan “Radpanda” Hudson, who interviewed many of the leaders in OU Esports. Kaleb “Slaw” Slawson, Assistant Director of OU Esports hosted a “Mario Party” panel with various leaders in OU Esports. They talked about their starts at OU Esports and what it means to be a leader.

After the leadership panels, Mike Aguliar talked with two previous leaders of OU Esports, Alex “A2” Tu and Callie “Kitren” Simonton to discuss where OU Esports had come from.

Afterwards was all fun and games, as the stream team came back with games like “Halo” and “Minecraft”. In between the games, Aguilar hosted a panel to discuss the future of OU esports, including discussing the expansion of OU Esports in the Cross apartments. Alongside him were co-founders of OU Esports, Rachel Bray and Jack Counts, who were excited to see the expansion of OU Esports.

After all was said and done and Aguilar said good night, the stream made $11,440 in donations. On OU Giving Day, there was a total of $11,043,083 made and 2,978 gifts awarded.

OU Esports completed four of the challenges set up by OU. The Solidus Fund won 2nd in most video shares, 2nd in most gifts given between 4:00 a.m and 5:00 a.m., 1st in most gifts between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., and 1st in most repeat donors. That is $8,000 earned from those challenges.

The Solidus Fund will be used to provide scholarships to students in OU Esports. Not only the players and coaches, but to every pillar.

OU Esports would like to thank everyone who contributed to the stream on OU Giving Day. This money paves the way for the future of Esports not only at OU, but the future of all esports.

This fund will provide many students with opportunities at OU Esports. These students are paving the way for future generations.