Rae Machado is a dedicated student from Long Island, New York, who has spent their educational career exploring different interests and building their passions. Machado served OU Esports and Co-Curricular as the Media & News Coordinator. In addition to their high-level leadership position with OU ECCI, they also held responsibility in other clubs during their time at OU.
Rae Machado was an officer for PWSA, the Professional Writing Student Association, for three years. In addition, they held two different leadership positions at the Oklahoma Weather Lab, or OWL, where they were a Shift Leader andon the board as the Deputy Director of Outreach.
They will graduate with a Bachelor’s in Environmental Sustainability and minors in Professional Writing and Meteorology. Machado is a Holling Scholar, a national scholarship through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is on track to receive the 4.0 medallion.
“You know, some of us gamers are pretty smart,” said Machado.
In addition to those achievements, Machado also self-published a novel last semester. Since elementary school, they have always wanted to publish a book, and they felt grateful to be able to do so on their mother’s 50th birthday! The novel is calledGhosts of the Steel Road.
“Even though I’m not a professional writing major, I have pretty much always identified myself as a writer,” said Machado. “That’s probably the character trait that I would use first for myself. I now have something physical that shows all the work that I put in since 6th grade.”
Their time at OU has taught them to be confident in themself and their abilities.
“You’re going to be noticed. That’s not a threat. That’s a promise,” said Machado.
“You’re going to be noticed. That’s not a threat. That’s a promise,” said Machado.
“Coming in as a freshman, I was almost not wanting people to notice me. I was ready to hide in the shadows for the next 4 years and just cruise on by and let that be that. Obviously, things did not turn out that way. You know, I did very much get noticed [and] ended up doing leadership across different clubs.”
With their graduation, Machado hopes to leave a legacy at OU ECCI that reflects their stewardship towards media and news journalism in the Esports space. They wish to bring Esports journalism and media to the collegiate level and more to the forefront. The more visibility, the better.
“Right now, especially on the news side, we’re (OU ECCI) the only ones that do news. And then on the media side, we’re the only ones that are kind of doing media the way we do it with consistency,” said Machado. “When push comes to shove, journalism and media are never going to go away.”
Rae Machado has accepted a position in Corporate Sustainability in Kentucky. Machado is excited to apply the various skills they learned in their academic journey.
