By Alejandro Barlow, Sept. 12, 2023
Bronco Esports welcomed a new executive board over the summer that hopes to include more club members and competitive players in the club’s meetings and decision making process throughout the year.
Evin Menendez-Vargas, a computer science student serving as the club’s director of competitions and one of the co-presidents, joined Bronco Esports in 2019 to play on the Rocket League team. Then, he became the team’s coordinator before joining the executive board this summer.
Menendez-Vargas wants to get more club members involved in all aspects of the club from running events to making graphics and competing. He also hopes to increase the club’s social media pages and better highlight its competitive players.
“Our players here are very talented, and I really want them to succeed in whatever they want to be, pro or not,” Menendez-Vargas said.
Rob Ranit, the club’s other co-president and a computer engineering student, joined the club in 2021 because of his love of one-on-one fighting games like Street Fighter. He later became the fighting game coordinator for events like Frag Fest.
Frag Fest is the largest event hosted and funded by Bronco Esports, bringing together students across campus and beyond to compete in nearly every popular competitive game. The club partners with sponsors like Razer and TSM University, the college outreach program of esports organization Team SoloMid, to source the equipment used to run the event as well as provide prizes to competitors.
Spring 2022 Frag Fest helped Ranit gain an appreciation for other organizations hosting events on campus, and he hopes to share his joy of putting on the event with all the other members of the club.
Secretary Kevin Taweesup, a computer information system student, joined Esports last year as part of the Apex Legends team before transitioning to coaching the team. As secretary, Taweesup is the main point of contact for sponsors and other esports clubs and organizations. He hopes to help the club run efficiently and professionally as well as find more sponsors for Frag Fest this semester.
New Director of Public Relations Abrarul Ambia is a marketing student who joined the club in 2022 due to his love of Rocket League and first-person shooter games. Ambia played on the club’s Rock League B team competitively for a short time before joining the executive board. His main goal for the 2023-2024 academic year is to boost the club’s notoriety on campus through both outreach and events.
Noah Moeava, the club’s treasurer and a senior computer information systems student, joined the club two years ago. Alongside being treasurer, he is the club’s Apex Legends coordinator as well as the in-game leader on their Aqua team.
“Hopefully the higher ups in the Cal Poly system actually sees us as an organization,” Moeva said.
He hopes that they realize gamers and students are a good community they could invest in, with an esports arena being one facility he particularly wished the campus had.
Investing back in the community is a key tenant of the club, and Ranit hopes to demonstrate the club’s giving spirit by making the club a welcoming environment.
“Even though we are an esports club, it’s not necessarily only for people who want to play competitively,” Ranit said. “We are a club that is passionate about gaming and love to see other people who share that same passion enjoy the club with us.”
To learn more about Bronco Esports’ future events or to join the club, join their Discord at discord.gg/cppesports and visit their page on myBAR.
Feature image courtesy of Evin Menendez-Vargas
