Class of 2024, Student Managing Editor, College Editorial Team
Passersby strolling through the University of Chicago’s Main Quad on May 7 might have been surprised to see students bagging groceries competitively, completing dog agility courses on all fours, and trying to flip pancakes between two pans from as far away as possible. These seemingly random activities were part of Scav Olympics and only the tip of the iceberg for Scav 2022’s challenges.
Every spring, students and alumni of the College look forward to one of UChicago’s grandest and most popular traditions: Scav. Since 1987, the University has been the site of a large-scale, multiple-day scavenger hunt known for its unconventional challenges and once Guinness World Record-setting status as the largest of its kind.
While stories of Scav take on mythic proportions, the uninitiated may wonder: what exactly is Scav? The official Scav website defines the event, intentionally vaguely, as follows: "’[Scav] is. [Scav] is in itself. [Scav] is what it is.’ -Jean-Paul Sartre.”
Put simply, each year’s Scav begins with the always-anticipated “List Release” event where scavenger hunt “items” are revealed for teams of students and alumni to track down or create before ultimately presenting them to the event judges at the final “Judgment” ceremony four days later.
Some items are conventionally scavengable, but others “must be built, performed, written, programmed, drawn, eaten, designed, painted, solved, won, and (sometimes) endured,” per the website. This year’s teams did it all, from participating in a game of “Verbal Wordle” to getting a .gov website to endorse their Scav team.
Connor Bentley, a rising third-year student and first-time participant (or “scavvie,” as they are commonly called), of second-place team, Woodlawn Yeast (representing the Woodlawn East dorm), said that Scav “lived up to its reputation of being slightly weird, chaotic and truly UChicago at its core.”
24 teams of students had four days to gather as many items as possible starting with the List Release late on the night of May 4, with Scav Olympics and a variety of other events providing additional opportunities to earn points.
Scav 2022’s events followed a year’s calendar, meaning each fifteen minutes of Scav corresponded to a single day, and live events and submission deadlines took place on particular “days” in the calendar year. Outside of the events, teams led by captains (or “Scaptains”) took road trips, produced music videos, fashioned dresses out of business cards, and much more.
Teams attempted to complete the list of over two hundred items, which were then evaluated by a group of student and alumni judges. Judges are selected through a competitive application process that requires applicants to propose 15-30 potential Scav list items for a future hunt.
David Nathan Twersky, a rising fourth-year student and Scaptain from the winning Snell-Hitchcock team (called I Do Not Think Therefore I Do Not Am), remembered his team’s creation of a “crankie” fondly. The list item called for teams to create a moving panoramic picture operated by a crank, with three layers meant to mimic the view looking out of a train window.
Two-time Scaptain and rising third-year student Tula Hanson of Woodlawn Yeast helped lead the creation of a “sugar baby.” Her team combined sugar and butter and molded it into the shape of a human baby for their submission, some of which was eaten by one of the judges at “Judgment.”
Woodlawn Yeast’s “sugar baby”
This year’s hunt also delivered a welcome return to campus following two years of virtual events. Scav Judge and recent alumnus Sabrina Sternberg, AB’21, spoke excitedly about her first in-person Scav as a judge.
“Many of those physical activities just cannot be replicated virtually, and I had never experienced that before,” she said. “Scav Olympics in particular was a very joyous moment of teams working together and celebrating each other,” she said.
Sternberg said that this year’s events were proof that, after two years of the pandemic, UChicago remained as excited as ever to participate in Scav.
“Woodlawn had never even scavved before and came in second place!” she said. “It was incredible to watch. There is clearly a community on campus who wants to scav.”
“It’s the most intense community experience at UChicago,” Twersky added. “To have an event that necessitates collaboration, while also allowing you to do so in a self-guided and enjoyable way, is so precious.”
Scav was recently highlighted in an article in the Chicago Tribune, and it continues to attract widespread campus participation year after year. It has always been, and will continue to be, a beloved tradition for years to come that captures the imagination and the spirit of UChicago.
