Teams of new students hurried around campus on Tuesday, Aug. 13, competing to score the most points in a scavenger hunt hosted by the Office of
International Education (OIE).
Although the event was hosted by OIE to help new international students commune together and learn their way around campus, all new students were welcome to attend regardless of their international status.
Students arranged into teams of four to six people, and organizers handed out a list of campus landmarks that students could take pictures of and send to OIE’s Instagram to earn points. Along the way, there were additional opportunities to earn bonus points for completing tasks at specific locations on the scavenger hunt.
While students fought to be the fastest to find and visit all the locations, they also battled the 90-degree heat, and organizers brought much-welcomed water bottles to help students stay cool in the Atlanta summer.
One team included three new international students, Mohit Talreja, MS CS, Trish Jain, MS CS and Karvy Mohnot, MS CS. No team member had intimate knowledge of campus; some had only set foot on campus for the first time just two days ago. Mohnot quickly assumed the role of leader in the group and led the team to a strong start.
First, they visited the bowling alley in the John Lewis Student Center and snapped a picture that included the word “bowl” for some bonus points. The team’s next stop was the post office, where they also bagged bonus points by finding and taking a picture with the name of the fictional student George P. Burdell on the wall.
Next up was the Flag Building, where the team also earned bonus points by taking a picture of every member standing under the flag of their home country, which, for each team member, was India. Then, after some discussion, the team decided to go to the Campus Recreation Center (CRC), where things went south.
After getting a picture of the CRC, the team decided to take the bus to Tech Square to earn the highest scoring points reward by taking a picture with a Buzz statue at the bookstore. It was a gamble that, if it paid off, would double their points tally.
Talreja was tracking the bus on his phone and was confident that the bus was just around the corner; however, the bus was not getting any closer, and the team ended up waiting for the bus much longer than they expected, eating away at the time limit for points submissions.
When the bus finally arrived, it was full, and the team quickly diverted to getting on a different bus line, which left them stranded with few opportunities to pick up any points before the time limit. Despite the seeming failure, everyone in the group remained in good spirits and happy to learn more about the place they would call home for the next few years.
Many new students also enjoyed attending the event to meet their peers and explore campus. One student, Sai Vikas, MS ME, was on a team that managed to visit most of the locations on campus within the time limit.
Vikas said he found the event from an email from OIE and decided to go to the event. Although they didn’t win a prize, Vikas said, “We are not here for a prize. I thought [I would attend] to make connections with [campus] and make connections with my peers.”
Like other international students, Vikas said that he had attended webinars hosted by OIE before arriving on campus but could only grasp campus once he could walk around it. Still, he said he still resorts to Google Maps on occasion.
Vikas also said he has enjoyed attending other OIE events to help international students integrate into campus, especially since it has allowed him to meet many new people.
“I would not recommend staying with the same group of people. I like to mix up with people from different cultures,” Vikas said.
The event overall was a great success as many teams returned to the endpoint on Tech Green with smiles on their faces despite the exhaustion caused by the intense heat. The Technique sat down with event organizer Katie Patton, International Student and Scholar Advisor, and Kate Kirk, Associate Director of International Student and Scholar Services from OIE.
Patton said that the idea for the scavenger hunt event came from her personal experience and the help of student assistants at OIE.
“I have spent a lot of time living overseas, and two of the hardest things were meeting people and finding stuff. I asked [our student assistants] to come up with ideas for events or things we could do to help students when they first land, and this was what they came up with,” Patton said.
Patton also explained that because most international students are grad students, many of them might not have an orientation event the way that undergraduate students have FASET, which welcomes them into campus. Kirk added that the structure of Tech can sometimes be obscure for international students entering campus.
“Georgia Tech’s a bit decentralized when it comes to different offices and knowing where to go for different things, and so that can sometimes be an adjustment for our incoming students, depending on where they’re coming from and even what institution they’re coming from,” Kirk said.
The pair said that many international students are attracted to the Institute because of Tech’s strong name recognition as a top institute and high praise from alumni. Indeed, Talreja, Jain and Mohnot all said that they came to Tech after hearing about the Institute’s education from graduates.
Patton and Kirk said that OIE’s job begins when a student decides they want to come to Tech by giving them visa help, providing materials about what to expect on campus and helping them integrate once they arrive here.
After all the teams returned from their hunt for locations around campus, many students stayed behind to talk and connect with their peers. No winner was ever officially declared, but everyone who decided to come out and learn about their campus left with a sense of accomplishment.
OIE has several upcoming events including, International Student Meet and Greet on Sept. 3 and Welcome Reception for International Students on Sept. 21.