Group photo of all scavenger hunt participants
Ready, Set, Go! Seven teams of undergraduate and graduate students participated in the Geography Department’s Scavenger Hunt on Thursday, June 2. Planned and executed by the Outreach Committee, (Heather Frazier, Nina Bingham, Sari Blakeley, Mike Johnson, Susan Meerdink, and Rafael Ramos) the event was hosted to promote interaction among the geocommunity and other participants, and to celebrate the end of the academic year. Featuring clues and activities all over campus, the participants had to combine team-work, strategy, endurance, and lots of enthusiasm. Some of the tasks included getting to one of the good surfing spots on campus, taking a photo with a duck couple, and even finding a sunken place where testudines call home!
Chris Chien, Lucy Garibian, Ryan Linhart, Cole McLaughlin, and Andrew Westerman solved the clue: You cant write with these pencils, but they sure do fly!
This Scavenger Hunt was for sure a competitive one. All the teams did very well and in the end there were some very close scores. Tying for 1st Place was Team VIPER (Alana Ayasse, Dan Phillips, Sarah Shivers, Zach Tane, and Erin Wetherley) and Spatial Forces (Thomas Hervey, Sara Lafia, and Georgios Technitis). 3rd place was awarded to the undergraduate Raster Masters (Chris Chien, Lucine Garibian, Ryan Linhart, Cole McLaughlin, and Andrew Westerman).
Georgios Technitis and Sara Lafia thoroughly plan their route for the scavenger hunt
These teams won a variety of prizes including: Geography T-shirts from the thirtieth and fortieth anniversaries, Geography Bags, $50 Bookstore gift cards, ESRI pens and notebooks, passes to the Natural History Museum and Sea Center, and Geography pencils. After finishing the scavenger hunt, the participants also enjoyed a graduate student poster showcase while eating Woodstock’s pizza.
Dan Phillips, Sarah Shivers, Zach Tane, and Erin Wetherley strike a pose where the gorillas play on campus.
According to Sara Lafia, from the Spatial Forces team, participating in the Scavenger Hunt allowed her to appreciate our beautiful UCSB campus, as well as her coworkers at the Spatial Center, who also participated. “I’m really happy to have participated and hope that we can make it an annual department end-of year tradition”, Sara remarked. That is indeed an idea to look forward to.
Special thanks to Outreach Committee member Susan Meerdink for providing the write-up and photos.
Kelsey Bisson, Kerri Johnson, and Kate Voss found the larger than life fish with a view of the ocean.
