By Ralph Parcon
As my group and I went off on a scavenger hunt around the school, I shouted, “Let’s Go!”
However, this was not any ordinary scavenger hunt, but it was one meant to create memories and make new friends.
The scavenger hunt was organized for Buddies Beyond Borders, a club created specifically for local Dominican students to meet the ELS (English Language Services) exchange students, make friends, and learn from different cultures, along with helping the ELS students improve their English skills.
Although this was only the club’s second meeting of the year, it was the first one that featured the ELS students participating.
There are approximately 71 students in this semester’s program with about 50 students coming from Japan as well as Brazil and Taiwan.
Most of the students are transferring from Kindai University, which located in Osaka, and Chukyo University, which is located Nagoya. The Kindai students will be staying for the whole school year until the end of April while the Chukyo students will only be here for the fall semester before returning to Japan in mid-December.
Within a 30-minute time limit, the challenge of the scavenger hunt was to take photos of nine items and spots hidden in different parts of campus. We began by splitting up into ten groups of five or six people with each group having three or four ELS students being led by two local Dominican students.
In my group, besides three ELS students, I was paired up with an international student from China who was previously in the ELS program from January to June but has since been enrolled as a graduate student at Dominican.
The challenge was highly competitive. First, we headed off to the locations that were closest to us and looked for a flower emblem in the Social Hall. We then ran to the Cyber Cafe to search for the football helmet on top of a refrigerator, and then all the way to the Grotto for the labyrinth before heading back to Parmer Hall to seek an award on display.
We also went to the fine arts building for the Fashion Display case and the library for a specific book titled “The Will to Power.” Afterwards, we moved on to the wall in Lewis Hall with the school crest, then to the gymnasium for the trophies, and finally to the chapel to find an emblem containing a dog and a flame.
We were probably the seventh group out of ten to return, but in a sudden twist, my group ended up getting first place and received a prize since we were the only group that found the correct book, which was the most difficult thing to find, that was listed for the scavenger hunt. It was funny because every single team was grouping up against one of the librarians to find out where the book was.
For our prize, we received a gift box filled with three packs of Sour Patch gummies, three small boxes of Nerds candy, several party bead necklaces, and unique keychains. I ended up getting one of the Nerds boxes since I wanted the ELS students to have the Sour Patch gummies.
Overall, everyone had a lot of fun embarking on this memorable scavenger hunt. Most importantly, it was a unique way to welcome the ELS students to our campus and make friends with local Dominican students.
