Homecoming Week is a time to honor school pride, put on silver and gold and celebrate all University of Idaho has to offer. Not only this, but it is also a time to scavenge for photos.
On Sunday night, students gathered outside the VandalStore to commence UI’s Homecoming Week with the traditional Photo Scavenger Hunt.
“We have seventeen fraternities, ten sororities and a few miscellaneous groups participating today,” said Mia Goodwin, homecoming advisor and student alumni program coordinator.
“With this event, we set up a competitive atmosphere to test student’s knowledge of the campus and enhance school pride for Homecoming Week,” Goodwin said.
Students collected around the VandalStore entrance and strategized with their teams while excited murmurs and festive chatter echoed from every corner.
For the scavenger hunt, groups were encouraged to explore UI’s campus and take pictures of themselves posing in different specific locations, said Nichole Hampton, UI senior and member of Delta Delta Delta. Each group had one hour to get as many points as possible.
“We have to go around the campus taking pictures of places and posing in specific locations, we have an hour to get as many points as we possibly can,” Hampton, who has participated in the event for the last four years, said.
“Although this is my first year here, I am very excited to participate,” said Raquel Wemhoff, UI freshman and member of Alpha Gamma Delta.
The photo scavenger hunt is one of many events which takes place during Homecoming Week, and although many sororities and fraternities groups showed their Vandal pride, students outside of Greek life attended the event to show their support too.
The Homecoming Committee laid out basic rules for the teams participating, and after accessing the scavenger hunt app on their phones, student groups split up and began scavenging for their photos.
This competitive event featured a simple prize — bragging rights for whoever wins.
“Teams get one hour to get as many points as they can, it’s possible to get about three hundred points,” Goodwin said. “The team that wins gets announced at the homecoming game. They get bragging rights for the rest of the year.”
The excited murmurs died down as Goodwin stood up at 5 p.m. to signify the start of the event.
The first groups of students ran across the road and more followed as they all dispersed in different directions to take as many pictures as they could and utilize their knowledge of UI’s campus.
Kilty Ellis can be reached at [email protected]