“And the first clue awaits you…..” This was the first sentence to start the race to end all races at Prairie Ridge high school. The Epic Race is part of the celebrations PR participated in for this year’s World Language Week which is celebrated to raise awareness for the importance of learning foreign languages and other cultures.
The race had an amazing turnout. A total of forty teams signed up to compete, which was twice the amount of last year. Mr. Taege, one of the Spanish National Honor Society sponsors, explained the reason for the rise in competitors. “We knew it would grow in size after the feedback we received last year,” he said. “The 20 teams that raced in 2011 really got into it, and I’m certain word of mouth was our best advertisement.”
Each participant paid money to compete, and all of the proceedings went to the victims of hurricane Sandy, to help them rebuild their homes and their lives. A total of $462.25 was donated to the Red Cross, an organization to help people in need.
During the race students ran around the school in an “epic” scavenger hunt. While some clues lead the teams to exciting games and tests of their tastes, other activities made them show their dancing skills by learning the salsa and singing along to Shakira. Everyone had a favorite activity. “I liked finding the bandana in the football field,” said freshman Kaylee Winnecke. “It was fun running around the field with my friends.”
The eating challenges required intricate balancing skills, and they were hilarious to watch. Have you ever tried to get an Oreo to travel from your forehead to your mouth…in the dark? It looks extremely difficult, and it’s definitely not something you see every day. This activity wasn’t the only one that challenged students, though. “I think the hardest one was in the detention room, where you had to match the paintings to the artists. We kept messing up. It took us at least two tries to get them right,” said freshman Andrea Vannatta.
When teams finished these activities, they ran off to find other ones in classrooms that could be three feet away, or on the other side of the school. Feet could be heard pattering over the tiles as everyone ran everywhere, searching for the next activity and the next sticker to add to their clue sheet.
Even Waldo found his way into the race. You know, the funny guy in the striped shirt? Well, it looks like he’s found his way out of his picture books and into our school! Students were instructed to take multiple pictures of different Waldos all over the school for an extra challenge.
The teachers worked very hard to get the race set up and to put together all of their ideas. “We got the idea for the Epic Race from an event we did downtown called the City Chase,” Mr.Taege explained. “We had such a blast racing City Chase that we modified the concept, creating a fundraiser and PR’s Epic Race as a result.”
Even though everyone had so much fun, at the end, there was only one team that could win. This team included Christina Kappil, Jack Disselhorst, Joseph Schneider, and Mackenzie Sutherland. After the winners were announced, the forty teams that were spread out around the school started to gather in the cafeteria again. Exhausted but happy, people smiled and said good-bye to their friends and their competitors. The race was over, memories were made, and people finally learned how to sing a Shakira song. Overall, it was exciting, fun, tiring, challenging, and, of course, epic.