

On March 9, the Waynesburg University Student Activity Board hosted a brand new event for students to participate in: a scavenger hunt. The event was held on the university’s Wellness Day to provide a relaxing activity for students to participate in on their day off.
The event lasted from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with about 20 participants throughout the day. For those that finished the scavenger hunt, SAB gave away Waynesburg University themed travel mugs filled with snacks.
“With COVID-19 regulations, it’s so hard to hold events and create community,” Michelle Keith, graduate assistant, said. “SAB hopes that students participate in these events with their friends or use events such as the scavenger hunt to build relationships with new friends.”
Keith also said that events at Waynesburg University gave her the opportunity to create life-long friends when she was a student.
“I believe it’s important to still provide events for students to help with the overall campus moral and the building of life-long friendships among WU students,” Keith said. “WU has given me life-long friendships throughout my time as a student and now as a [graduate assistant], I would hate for current students to not have those opportunities to build life-long friendships at WU because of a lack of community building events.”
Emily Schafer, Athletic Fun and Fitness Committee Chairperson for the SAB, was in charge of the scavenger hunt. Schafer knew that hosting the event on Wellness Day would be beneficial to students.
“I chose a Wellness Day because I knew that nobody really had classes. I also know the struggle of being bored,” Schafer said. “My hope was that a scavenger hunt would provide a good mental break and help contribute to the student’s wellness.”
Schafer chose to host a scavenger hunt particularly because of her love for them, and because of the opportunity to bring the campus community together.
“I chose to do a scavenger hunt because I love doing them myself so much,” Schafer said. “It is such a cool way to form community and with COVID restrictions this year, it has the potential to be done both individually and in groups. It also encouraged students to get outside and explore the campus.”
Schafer has experience hosting scavenger hunts from her time as a Resident Assistant, where she hosted similar scavenger hunts. Schafer said that it takes time to perfect a scavenger hunt, especially preparing the clues, but said that it is well worth it in the end.
“I think we have all struggled during this pandemic and if doing a scavenger hunt brought even just one person some joy, then it was all worth it,” Schafer said.