ASUCI’s Student Support and Advocacy (SSA) commission hosted a “Spooky Scavenger Hunt” featuring some of the campus resources available to students at the Student Center Terrace on Oct. 25.
In an effort to encourage students to explore these resources, SSA tasked participants with locating four student resource offices in the Student Center with the chance to win free boba and a Halloween-themed goodie bag.
Participants were given an informational card listing the four student resource offices: the Division of Career Pathways, the CARE Office, the Cross Cultural Center and the Student Outreach and Retention (SOAR) Center, as well as a map of their locations. To receive their prizes, participants filled out a stamp card by taking photos at each location.
Besides instructing students on where to go, the informational card also had a QR code that they could scan for a list of free student resources, ranging from academic tutoring to mental health services.
Gabriel Chen, a first year political science student and SSA intern, discussed the importance of general knowledge of campus resources and how many students remain unaware of what is available to them.
“The Student Center can be confusing. UCI is a huge campus and unless you need a resource, students aren’t really inclined to explore and find the physical location of those resources in the first place,” Chen said.
Many students found that the scavenger hunt helped them become more comfortable knowing their way around campus. Graduate urban planning student Caleb Granch described not only how helpful the event was to him personally, but also how well-executed it was.
“I think it is good to get students to figure out where the resources that they have available to them are and I think people love boba, so they probably hit the nail on the head with this one,” he said.
SSA focuses on student wellness and holding events similar to this scavenger hunt that garner student engagement with their available resources. SSA is also discussing plans to hold quarterly events to encourage cultural community engagement in addition to student health and wellness.
“We also do cultural-based events as well … [and] we also want to potentially hold events just for, like in the moment, student wellness, so like … therapy [puppies]… But yeah, just in total, holistic wellness, whether that be through information and knowledge or through experience,” Chen said.
When asked if this event piqued their interest in attending future SSA events, many participants agreed that it did. First year business information management student Trami Lin shared how this event felt very well-rounded and was more educational than she expected.
“I would enjoy more of these because of the incentives, but also because you get to know your campus a little bit more and just know where your resources are,” Lin said.
Makyla McLeod is a Campus News Intern for the 2022 fall quarter. She can be reached at msmcleod@uci.edu.
