An Unexpected Game of Frisbee

President Cabrera joins students for some down time on Tech Green
President Cabrera met Christopher Ozgo and Reed Blanchard on Tech Green to play frisbee and chat about the semester.

President Cabrera met Christopher Ozgo and Reed Blanchard on Tech Green to play frisbee and chat about the semester.

Sometimes you just have to make a bold move and do something unexpected.

For Chris Ozgo, that involved a sprint up Freshman Hill. The second-year computer science major sprinted up the hill after seeing Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera ride by on his bike.

Ozgo and his best friend and classmate Reed Blanchard have been on a mission to complete 30 things outside of their comfort zones in 30 days. One of them was to play frisbee with the president of Georgia Tech.

When Ozgo spotted Cabrera, he didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to introduce himself, so he pounded the pavement to catch up with him. And when he finally made it did, he breathlessly asked the president if he’d like to play frisbee, to which the pair of friends got a yes.

“Quite honestly, I was a little surprised,” Ozgo said. “We just wanted to get to know you a little bit better,” Blanchard told Cabrera.

They arranged a time to meet on Tech Green, and as it turned out the weather couldn’t have been better.

Blanchard, a second-year mechanical engineering major, and Ozgo are both Stamps President’s Scholars at Georgia Tech, representing the top 1% of students admitted to Tech.

President Cabrera’s son was also a Stamps Scholar. As it turns out, Ozgo is from Arlington, Virginia, and his father is a George Mason graduate. Cabrera was president of that university before taking over leadership at Tech in 2019.

“My parents were so excited when they found out you were coming to Tech,” Ozgo said.

The two students had the opportunity to ask a few questions while playing frisbee. One was about his favorite memory so far this year.

Cabrera replied that he’d received a lesson on how to drive “Wreck 2,” the Ford Model A Roadster owned by the Georgia Tech Alumni Association. It’s about as close as you can get to driving the original Wreck, the iconic Model A sport coupe maintained and driven by Tech students.

In turn, between throws, the president asked the students about their college experiences and the projects they’re working on. The moral of the story: don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. The answer is always no until you ask — even if that question is about playing frisbee with a university president.

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