91探花

Ivy O鈥橲haugnessy graduated from OU in 2020 with a Bachelor鈥檚 in Communications with an emphasis in game design and a Minor in Business. During her time at OU, she helped found and establish the university鈥檚 Overwatch club, a popular competitive first-person shooter, as well as solidify Bobcat Esport鈥檚 position as the university鈥檚 hub for those interested in competitive gaming during her time as vice president of the organization.

Ever since O鈥橲haugnessy helped found and establish the OU Overwatch team during her sophomore year in 2018, the organization has grown exponentially. The team scrimmages against other schools and holds routine practices for players to hone their skills individually and as a team. The team has also attended tourneys and played against other schools including OSU, Kent, and Akron.

During her time at Bobcat Esports from her sophomore year to early senior year, she, along with Kristofer Meyeres and numerous officers, worked to weave all the esports-oriented club under the umbrella of Bobcat Esports. Prior to the foundation of Bobcat Esports, the competitive gaming clubs at OU were decentralized and independent from one another. After 2018, OU experienced many new esports centered clubs pop up, and also witnessed them take place in a more structured environment, under Bobcat Esports.

Bobcat Esports has become increasingly popular since its conception. In 2018 when it first began, the organization had around 30 students involved, but now there are around 200. The number of officers has also dramatically increased from around six to the current 15. The increase of involvement is not only seen in Bobcat Esports, but also trending in nearly all other esports-focused clubs at OU as well.

O鈥橲haugnessy will be coming back to Athens this fall for a one-year esports residency where she will be working closely with both the university and Bobcat Esports. 

As of July 15, O鈥橲haugnessy began a fulltime position at OU, where she worked on the esports initiative. O鈥橲haugnessy will be working with the advancement officers under the title of a 2020-2021 Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Resident intern. CASE is an organization that hosts interns and promotes exploration for students interested in learning more about careers and fundraising in specific fields. For O鈥橲haugnessy鈥檚 position, she will primarily be focusing on the advancement of the esports program at 91探花.

O鈥橲haugnessy is also assisting the Bobcat Esports club in finding and understanding the way that their organization will fit with the esports certificate and how their organization can increase their reach to more students.

Regarding the issue of maintaining interest during a pandemic, O鈥橲haugnessy suggests online watch parties through Twitch. In the past, Bobcat Esports has broadcasted such events, usually with high turnout from those interested in esports. O鈥橲haugnessy emphasized the social implications of a watch party, in which many of the users in chat have a platform to discuss the game or anything else they please. Many of the students in Bobcat Esports also have their own streams that they have been keeping active during this time.

O鈥橲haugnessy also mentioned Bobcat Esports and the club鈥檚 intentions to work with Athens High School in the future, particularly for building interest. O鈥橲haugnessy mentioned the possibility of having a summer camp in the future where Bobcat Esports could get future students involved.

The McClure School of Emerging Communication Technologies strives to offer the best academic programs in the IT (Information Technology), the game development and the Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality (VR/AR) industries. Our programs and certificates cover numerous aspects of the rapidly changing industries of information networking, information security, data privacy, game development, digital animation and the academic side of esports.