On March 4, Boston Latin School tour guides hosted a scavenger hunt to help Class V students become more familiar with the school building and their classmates.

With COVID-19 in full force last year, eighth graders did not have in-person orientations and social events; instead, most of them attended their first year of BLS online. Without the typical sixie year events and in-person classes, students, teachers and parents felt that the eighth grade class had become socially disconnected.

Assistant to the Head of School and faculty advisor for tour guides, Ms. Martha Pierce says, “Class V students, like all students, have missed out on shared experiences over the last two years.”

During the scavenger hunt, eighth graders met in the dining hall first, then searched the building for clues in the form of QR codes, each of which led to the next clue and gave an activity to do at each station.

The hope was that through this fun activity, students would be able to familiarize themselves with each other and the building. Many eighth graders find that they have trouble navigating parts of the building that are foreign to them. Thus, many clues were located in areas or rooms that eighth graders do not visit often.

Ms. Pierce adds, “Class V students know how to get to their classes easily by now but may not know how to access some of the less frequented spaces.”

In addition to addressing the impacts on navigation in the school building due to COVID-19, the scavenger hunt was intended to encourage social connection between students through participating in teams.

Caroline Butler (V) attended mainly for the aspect of making connections. She says, “I enjoy social activities and would like to get more involved in after school events and activities.”

Organizers hoped for a large turnout for the event. They advertised with various marketing methods, such as posting flyers throughout the hallway and an announcement in the Daily Bulletin with a sign-up form to attend.

Henry Poynter (I), one of the organizers of the event, concludes, “I feel like [the eighth graders] would want to do a fun game.”