Oct. 9, 2019
I think I’ve found my retirement job. Or maybe my side hustle. As much as I love being a competitor, I’ve decided I also love creating games for other people. Last week I once again hosted a team-building scavenger hunt and I might have had as much fun as the 37 competitors.
This isn’t your average scavenger hunt to just find a list of things, though that is a part of it. I make teams zigzag around the north part of campus finding answers to trivia, figuring out hidden picture locations, taking photos with random people and being the first to find bonus ribbons out on the course. (Do you know where this picture was taken?)
This year's winning team, the Green Berets, was basically a ribbon, a British car, a lamppost banner of a student with a flag and a black squirrel ahead of Threat Level Midnight, the team right behind them. In a game with 88 questions and 1,000 points, it was very close.
While it was a fun, silly couple of hours, the real treasures in the hunt were finding creative ways to work with a team and looking at campus in a whole new way. Teams were made up of colleagues who don’t always work together, and I heard a lot of great feedback about getting to know people better. I also heard a lot of people say how much they liked seeing parts of campus they hadn’t before. They were forced to look at details and really appreciate what campus has to offer.
And boy does this campus have a lot to offer. Because the hunt was on foot, we stayed in the area around West Circle Drive. On a campus that has 566 buildings on 5,200 acres, we only touched a small part. I will never run out of game questions here. And, campus is constantly changing as we build new structures to expand our research, teaching and impact on the world.
The game did take teams by the music building, where a 35,000-square-foot expansion is under construction, just one of a bunch of incredible new spaces on campus. Check out the MSUTODAY FEATURE: Building for tomorrow, to learn about it and other exciting new buildings for science and research that will move MSU into the future.
It’s not just the buildings that are treasures at MSU — our students and faculty are doing some pretty incredible things.
Marc Embree is an associate professor of voice in the College of Music and very enthusiastic about the new facilities that will open by March 2020. He says that the project was brought together by “an almost mystical whirlwind of energy, willingness and desire,” led by Dean James Forger. Read his entertaining FACULTY VOICE: Passing into a very good time, to learn more about this new “sense of place” and some lyrics he wrote to celebrate it.
You don’t have to hunt far either to find incredible students at MSU. Cade Dembski, who couldn’t decide which of his two passions — music and science — to pursue, came to MSU and decided to do both. A double major in clarinet performance and physics, he was selected as a Dean’s Research Scholar and already is doing important scientific research. Read his STUDENT VIEW: Best of both worlds, to learn how he mixes quartets and rare isotopes into one really cool student experience.
If you haven’t slowed down and looked at campus lately, I highly encourage it. It’s easy to rush around or drive from place to place and forget to appreciate every special thing and person that make up who we are. (If you need a reason, give me a ring…I’d love to host a scavenger hunt for you!) Everywhere you look, there is a history of the Spartans who came before us, incredible stories from today and the promise of discovery and impact of those who will follow us. Slow down and gaze at our “ivy-covered halls” but celebrate all of the amazing work happening inside every one of them. #SpartansWill.
Lisa Mulcrone
Editor, MSUToday
@LMulcrone
Photo by Derrick L. Turner