By Hannah Hamilton
Resident Assistant
Hotz Honors Hall

The Academic Race was a fun, friendly competition put on by Hotz Honors Hall staff to help students get familiar with campus while competing against fellow residents. Students either signed up or were assigned to teams of five to begin. Each team was also assigned a resident assistant (RA) group leader to help them along the way.

After signing in and listening to the rules, the race was on! The teams all started the race off strong by sprinting over to the Office of Study Abroad and International Education, where they found the next clue that led them to the chemistry library.

At the chemistry library, the teams were met by Matthew Gerner, a chemistry instructor at the university and one of Hotz Hall’s Adopt-a-Profs.

Gerner helped the teams figure out their next clue which led them to the Career Development Center in the union. After locating the Career Development Center, the students were led to the Student Technology Center that is also located in the union.

While the students were at each of the locations, RAs explained the specific function that each location served. For example, the chemistry library is a nice quiet place to study for finals and the tech center is a great place to go if you need help printing or want to play a cool game.

After leaving the tech center, the teams were led to the physics library where another Adopt-a-Prof, Heather Walker, an engineering professor, helped them solve the final riddle that led them to Gearheart Hall, which houses the Honors College. There the winner was announced and celebrated and students and faculty indulged in some DIY trail mix together.

After the trail mix had been made and everyone caught their breath from the race, the Adopt-a-Profs and the Dean of the Honors College, Dean Lynda Coon, introduced themselves formally and answered any and all the many questions the students had for them.

The students were encouraged to go to the professor’s office hours for any future questions, and the winning team was taken to Hurts Donuts and allowed to pick out any 6 donuts they wanted.

The Academic Race was a great success by showing students many of the amazing resources on campus while they were having fun. The event happened Aug. 29.

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