10th Annual Downtown Scavenger Hunt Winners

10^th Annual Downtown Scavenger Hunt

This past weekend The University of Scranton’s Office of Community Relations hosted its 10^th Annual Scavenger Hunt in downtown Scranton to give students an opportunity to explore the City of Scranton, including businesses, historical sites, landmarks, and murals. For many members of the first year class, this event is the first chance to acquaint themselves with their new home.

This year’s event was adapted to ensure safety in light of the coronavirus. Updates included offering the event asynchronously over the course of the entire weekend, wearing masks, maintaining 6 feet social distancing, and a new QR code system that enabled the event to be hosted entirely outdoors. Over 30 participating locations from across the downtown hosted “Iggy” posters in their windows for students to find. Students could scan QR codes on the posters to receive a clue with more information about the next location. In addition to the Scavenger Hunt, this year’s event also had two additional photo contests: one focusing on downtown landmarks and artistic murals and the other to mark the most creative photo overall.

“Despite the changes this year to ensure health and safety, we still had a great competition, community spirit, and creativity demonstrated by our students. Students immersed themselves in the city and got to know more about the rich history & culture and vibrant businesses in our community” said Carolyn M. Bonacci, community and civic engagement coordinator at the University.  

This year’s winners are as follows:

Scavenger Hunt Winners:

Grand Prize: Vatsal Chetanbhai Shah, graduate student, India and Jamie Sainz, graduate student, Spain

Runners Up: Annette Johnson ’24, Silver Springs, MD and Kaleigh Timmons ’24, Bergenfield NJ

Downtown Murals and Landmarks Photo Contest Winners:

Grand Prize: Michelle Andruszko ’24, Drexel Hill, PA and Nicole Wirth ’24, Pompton Lakes, NJ

Runners Up: Francesca Fassett and Jenna Ziemba, High School Scholars

Creativity Photo Contest Winners:

Grand Prize: Kayla Murray ’24,  Philadelphia, PA and Alexa Ryan ’24, Philadelphia, PA

Runners Up: Vatsal Chetanbhai Shah, graduate student, India and Jamie Sainz, graduate student, Spain

Over 140 teams registered for the event and 30 downtown businesses and cultural and city venues offered students a chance to experience different facets of the city. Photo highlights were shared by the Scranton Times-Tribune.  The event demonstrated both that Royals can stay safe together and how much being in the City of Scranton means to the University: “I know it’s challenging, we’re all going through it, but it’s going to work out in the end we’re going to be stronger as a University and as a community because of it," said Diya Patel, sophomore and Community Relations intern, in a story by Fox56 that included interviews with the Community Relations team that organized the event, as well as participating business and longtime fixture of Courthouse Square, Northern Light Espresso Bar.

This event was held in collaboration with The Center for Student Engagement, The University of Scranton Small Business Development Center, and The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce & Metro Action, and Scranton Tomorrow.

Follow Community Relations on Facebook to view a full album of the winning photos.