RECognition: Machaela Ouyang, Fitness & Yoga
Recreation's monthly series to celebrate our staff
By Shawn Cyr
Assistant Marketing Director
Machaela Ouyang lives to explore. From earthy wonders such as waterfall hikes and abandoned mining caves to a scenic, graffiti-covered overlook above Los Angeles, Machaela is always looking for her next adventure.
“I'd love to do the same in other countries, just spontaneously explore their nature scenes since they're quite different than the ones you can find here in the States,” Machaela, a third-year in Seventh College, says.
Her sense of adventure isn’t limited to the natural world, either.
“I love trying a new restaurant or café to feed my food and caffeine addiction,” she says. “I have an Apple Maps guide of all the restaurants, bakeries, and cafes I want to try in places like LA, San Diego, and my hometown of Orange County.”
One of her most memorable moments working with REC — she joined UC San Diego Recreation as a FitLife staff member in May of 2023 — was exploring the Birch Aquarium after hours during one of the Sunset Yoga events.
“All the exhibits and the beach view during sunset were awesome to see when there wasn’t the normal crowd around like in regular operation hours,” she says.
In her role as Lead Programming and Scheduling Assistant, Machaela helps keep the daily operations of our group fitness and yoga classes running on track at RIMAC and Main Gym. She’s also responsible for creating the shift schedule every quarter, scheduling team meetings, and ensuring the group Fitness, Yoga, and Strength Training classes are inputted correctly on the REC website.
“My favorite part about working in REC is interacting with all the instructors and participants for our FitLife classes,” she says. “It's always nice seeing familiar faces who consistently come back every week and are just as committed to fitness as I am.”
Machaela also brings her leadership skills to a department level as a member of the Recreation Leadership Council.
“Machaela's great attention to detail, uplifting energy, and solution-oriented mindset help steer our programs toward excellence,” says Tiffany Healy, Fitness & Wellness Program Director.
As for her next adventure? Machaela is set to graduate in the fall of 2025 with a degree in Bachelor of Science degree in human biology and plans to continue her education to pursue a career as a physician assistant. Aside from that, there are still lots of excursions she wants to tackle.
“Things like exploring the Ha Giang Loop in Vietnam, catching the Northern Lights in Iceland, and getting a scuba license in Koh Tao Thailand are part of my bucket list I want to complete in the near future.”
