The University of Northern Colorado campus is waiting for you. Good luck. . .run safe. . .go!
For the first time last Friday, the UNC Center for Peer Education sponsored the annual “Amazing UNC Race” competition during Bear Welcome, as opposed to in the spring. The race, a play on the CBS TV show, involves different teams of three running all around west and central campus in order to complete various tasks; whomever finishes all the necessary tasks and crosses the finish line first wins.
Jay Ogan, the prevention coordinator for UNC’s prevention education and advocacy services, explained that there were ten total stations, and each of the 17 teams visited eight of them. Each team then got the same ninth clue, which were directions to the finish line.
“Each station has an education component related to our prevention topics, so it could be about mental health, alcohol, marijuana–those are kind of the main ones–sexual health,” Ogan said. “So any of those prevention topics that relate to our office.”
Starting from the recreation center, teams took off running towards the location of their first clue; after finding the correct booth and finishing the activity, teams had to go to the Hub, a booth in front of Snyder Hall to get their next clue. Booth locations included Turner Green, the Mckee Hall Breezeway, the front of Cassidy Hall and the recreation center, with the finish line flags planted in front of the Garden Theatre.
According to Ogan, over the course of the two-hour competition, each team covered about seven or eight miles.
“So part of it is to get students collaborating with each other, so obviously with the teams, really getting students involved,” Ogan said. “It’s a way for them to kind of network and get to know other people, and then I think the main purpose would be to expose them to different prevention topics in a fun way, so they’re not just standing there answering a question, they’re actually doing a fun activity.”
Ogan said planning for the race started in mid-May, and all the booths were run by a total of about fifty volunteers. Jacob Solseth, Ryan Weinerth and Trevor McQueeney, the three members of the “Lightning McQueen” team, crossed the finish line first and earned themselves a $200 Visa gift card each. “The Bachelorettes,” Gabryelle Hayden, Sydney Mueller and Taylor Krasonwon, took second, earning a $100 Visa gift card a piece. “The Man” took third, and a $50 Visa gift card a piece.
“I thought it went really well, everyone was smiling at the end of it, which is always nice to see,” Ogan said. “I know everyone was probably exhausted from all the running but I know folks were saying that it was a lot of fun even if they didn’t win, and that it was still fun to be a part of it. I’m glad that they heard about it.”
