One of the strongest stereotypes of gamers is that we are lazy and spend all of our time playing video games. However, one OU freshman gamer has gone above and beyond what even some of the more “overachieving” students have done, including making it into the President’s Community Scholars program. The class of 2029 has 6,251 enrolled students, giving the program a whopping 1.6% of the incoming freshmen. Join us now to hear from Jacob “rSaved” Rapp on his OU experience and his thoughts on “Lazy Gamers.”
What got you interested in the President's Community Scholars Program?
“Getting into it was a little bit of a surprise, because on the OU application to get into OU, they have an essay section for scholarships and something else. They don’t tell you exactly what it’s for. There’s two essays, short essays you write there, one about leadership and one about community service, and what they don’t tell you (unless you have an inside man, which I don’t) [is that] the first essay for leadership is your application to the PLC, which is basically the President’s Leadership [Class]. And then the second one for community service is PCS, which is the President’s Community Scholars. And so what they do is they look at all the incoming freshmen, and they read over these essays, and they pick 100 for each one.”
“So in this case, I got into PCS, Presidents Community Scholars, and I was one of the 100 fresh incoming freshmen that were selected for it, because what I wrote about in my essay and what I was involved in in high school reflected that I really cared about community service, because I do. And again, this stems from my faith because Jesus said, if you want to be a leader, you need to be a servant to others. And he himself washed his disciples’ feet, even though he was who he was. And so throughout high school, through my youth group, and through National Honor Society and other things, I had a lot of different opportunities to serve and do community service. And so I kind of accidentally had a beefy resume for community service I never intended to have. I just ended up with one. And so between that and my essay, PCS chose to invite me to join them.”
Have you done any major things with the program yet?
In addition to being involved with PCS, what are you majoring in?
“Well, last Thursday [as of this interview], we had our Boyd House meeting at the president’s house, and I had to meet him. I got to shake his hand. Got to enjoy food there. We dressed up. That was a lot of fun. At the start of the semester, before classes started, the whole entirety of PCS, we [went] on a retreat for two days to break the ice, to get to know one another and get to know our leaders. Kind of understand what PCS is about, and start to grow those bonds. We’re going to have some community service projects more throughout the semester and the rest of the year. But at the retreat, we decorated some bags for the children’s hospital. They gave out bags of food to the homeless, and we helped them create those bags as well, words of encouragement, and other things. That’s some of the things PCS has been involved with so far.”
“My major is psychology in the pre-med course currently. I actually just changed my major because I was still in media studies before that, because I love movies, but I thought that psychology… I find it interesting for one thing, but I also thought that it would benefit my ability as a doctor someday if I could understand how people respond to different circumstances and different traumas and be able to put myself in their shoes better. I thought it would help me be a more empathetic doctor, more patient with my patients. And then I thought it would pair well with anything in the medical field, whether I go to med school, whether I go to become, like, a psychologist or a therapist, psychology would help either way.”
Are you doing any other extracurriculars?
“I’m in PCS, obviously, and then I’m also on the Apex Legends Esports team here, and I have a Bible study on Tuesdays with Crew here on campus. I’m also [taking classes through] the Honors College.”
How do you think that your Esports background might impact your experience in PCS?
“I think my Esports background helps impact my experience in PCS because in Esports, more than almost anywhere else, you get a wide variety of people, because gaming is kind of one of the great unifiers. Moog loves to say ‘gaming is for everyone, period’ and it really is true, because in Esports, you run into people from all different majors [and] walks of life. You have graduate students, you have incoming freshmen, you have sophomores, juniors, different belief systems, whatever it may be. In PCS, you have a lot of like-minded people. We all love community service, and we were similar and chosen for that reason, but I feel like Esports helps give me a perspective of understanding the differences in people and trying to appreciate those differences, instead of using it as a dividing factor.”
What are your personal thoughts on the lazy gamer stereotype?
“I think it used to be more true than it is now. I think when it comes to competitive gaming, it doesn’t ring true almost at all, because with anything, people can spend too much time on it. You can have people that spend hours a day scrolling on their phone. You have people that spend too much time with their friends instead of on academics. You have people that spend too much time gaming. It’s like with anything, it’s about a balance.”
Rapp is one of several newcomers to the “Apex” team this season. Their impressive record did not come easily, but they learned the value of team discipline through it. “It really is a competitive environment where you have to learn, you have to grow, you have to think, you have to care about it. It’s not just ‘bored and tired [I’ll] play some video games,’ at least not at the level we’re at right now.”
After hearing from Rapp, I asked him if there was anything he personally wanted to add, and he chose to state that he was “very grateful to be in PCS,” citing the program’s low selection rate and the uniqueness of the opportunity. “I want to make the most of that.”
“I think we all have our lazy moments, but it is nice that I can try to show that even though I’m on an Esports team, and there might be a certain negative connotation around gaming, that I can show that I’m hard working, involved, I care about people, [and] I’m academically successful. It’s not all of who I am, and it’s not a bad part of who I am.”
Curious about Rapp’s gamertag? Clickhere to find out the story behind the in-game names of ten gamers in OU Esports, including his.
