By the time Kent’s campus-wide egg hunt began Tuesday morning, the hunt was already over.
Hosted by the Flash Activities Board, the “Egg-Stravaganza” promised students about 5,000 eggs scattered around campus, according to the FAB Instagram page. Students could redeem these eggs for raffle tickets for a chance to win prizes like an iPad, a Nespresso machine, a Stanley tumbler and more.
But, despite a “no early starts” rule to ensure fairness in the competition, some students treated the 8 a.m. start time like more of a suggestion, leaving fewer eggs for everyone else to find.
Senior zoology major Sadie Simpson and junior environmental studies major Emma Croyle were out looking from the very beginning of the hunt, but weren’t able to find much luck with their search.
“We started at 8 a.m. and now it’s almost 11,” Simpson said. “We’ve only found four eggs in the past three hours.”
According to a rule on FAB’s Instagram, students were not allowed to start looking until the hunt officially started; those caught starting early would be disqualified from claiming any prizes. But that didn’t stop the more competitive participants from starting early anyway to snatch up buckets of eggs.
“I saw multiple people at like 7:30 swooping as many eggs as they could get before it actually started,” Croyle said.
Despite the earlier start, the energy around campus throughout the morning remained fun and lighthearted. Students searched anywhere they could think of to find anything that hadn’t been snatched by the early birds.
Colorful plastic eggs peeked out from behind tree trunks and under benches and some students even climbed into flower beds and bushes, determined to find something.
“I found a ton in the bushes in front of the MACC,” Sam West, a senior biology major, said. “It was honestly kind of scary because I got pricked a lot.”
Meanwhile, inside the Student Center, students had the chance to take photos with a life-sized Easter bunny. Between the rush of the egg hunt and the photo ops indoors, the event was full of childlike fun and springtime energy.
Even the students who didn’t find many eggs were able to appreciate the experience and have fun with it.
“I’ve only found one egg in the last hour, but I still think it’s a cool activity for students to be able to do,” Ezra Nagelberg, a sophomore recreation management major, said. “It brings that younger aspect so we can still have those childhood experiences when we’re not at home for these types of events.”
Once the hunting began to slow, FAB started posting hints periodically on their Instagram story to ensure that no egg was left unfound. The hiding spots got more and more sneaky each time, some even hidden in the sand of a volleyball court or piles of leaves.
“For our bigger prize eggs, we definitely tried to make those a little bit more difficult to find,” FAB member Morgan Bradley said.
Whether they walked away with candy, a prize ticket or just a funny story and a few scratches from a bush, students agreed that the event brought a dose of fun to campus.
“It gets people up, it gets people active,” West said. “Especially for the people who need something in the morning, it was the perfect activity.”
Rachel McKean is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].