…the hunt for five medallions will end with winners

In preparation for Homecoming, the Gustavus Campus Activities Board has been busy putting together events, including the annual hunt for the medallion.

During Homecoming week, each day the medallion is placed in a hidden area somewhere on the Gustavus campus. A clue is given out daily as to where the medallion may be hidden next. These clues vary from cryptograms to riddles, composed by Campus Activites Board (CAB) members.

The medallion’s hiding locations were strategically thought-out by CAB Executive Members Comfort Dolo and Brittani Bartelt. The aim of the medallion hunt has been to get students actively engaged in anticipation for Homecoming. After doing extensive research on treasure and scavenger hunts, both Dolo and Bartelt composed clues and hints to use the campus as a treasure map.

“When I first started looking for places to hide the medallion, I just thought about where the popular places on campus were,” Dolo said.

“Then I thought the opposite; what about the places that people don’t really go to? One day I just walked around campus and thought about whether areas were either populated or not, about whether there were little nooks where the medallion could be hidden.”

The many hiding places of the medallion have ranged from the Schaefer Fine Arts Center to Jackson Campus Center, with clues both directly and indirectly leading students to the medallion.

One of the key goals of putting on the Medallion Hunt is to get diverse students into areas that they normally wouldn’t traverse through.

“We looked at different areas that might be overlooked by students sometimes,” Bartelt said.

“We wanted to get people who don’t usually go to the Lund Center to go there, or for those who don’t usually have a reason to go to the music building to go there. Part of CAB’s mission statement is to enrich the recreational needs of the community that is interesting and diverse. Comfort and I had in mind different locations where people wouldn’t normally travel to.”

“There are some people who are super dedicated to the medallion hunt,” Co-executive Chair of Special Events Jenny Marquette said. “I think it’s really awesome that people are getting into it. It’s been found really fast, too, so people are obviously looking for it. Some people even team up for it.”

Prizes for those who have found the medallion and turned it into the Student Activities Office will be awarded during Pep Fest. These prizes include twenty dollar gift certificates to the BookMark.

“With the gift cards, it’ll be easier to split among students who may have worked in groups or teams to find the medallion,” Marquette said. “We’re handing these out Friday during Pep Fest so that they can be recognized because the riddles and clues are actually pretty difficult.”

The annual medallion hunt is just one of many events as a part of Homecoming.

“We have a bunch of different events that are usually main things that we always have, and the medallion hunt is different in that respect; you can just walk by and see the clue and you get to decide whether or not to keep an eye out for it. It’s just something fun you can do in the midst of your crazy class schedule,” Marquette said.