Binghamton University students and staff combined adventure and community service as they competed in a school-wide treasure hunt.

The Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) hosted its first “Geo-Ca$h for Charity” event from April 26 to May 2, inviting participants to represent a charity of their choice in an outdoor scavenger hunt.

“Geocaching” refers to an outdoor activity in which participants use GPS devices and coordinates to aid them in a treasure hunt. Teams enable a GPS app on their smart phones, and are then given the latitude and longitude of each hidden geocache.

The four teams, totaling 18 participants, received 10 coordinates by email when the competition began. Containers were hidden at locations around the University, such as the campus entrance, the Events Center and the Nature Preserve. Once they found the containers, the team members had to sign a piece of paper inside before advancing to the next one.

Each team member individually gathered sponsors before the competition, who then promised to donate money to a team for each geocache found. The team that visited the most geocaches won the competition, and the CCE determined how much money went to each charity. The final total was $174, with the winning team raising $140 for the America for Nepal Medical Foundation. Other charities included March of Dimes, Waves for Water and the Crime Victims Assistance Center (CVAC) of Binghamton.

Ebony Arendt, a Program Management intern at the CCE and a junior majoring in business administration, helped coordinate the event. She said the CCE hosted this event to get students involved volunteering on campus and because of how popular geocaching is in other cities.

“We believed that geocaching for charity was a great way to increase awareness of many different charities, gain awareness for the CCE and get students active and motivated to volunteer,” she wrote in an email.

Laura Reindl, the communications specialist at the CCE and a member of the winning team, worked with six others to raise money for the America Nepal Medical Foundation. Reindl said her team participated to get active and help others.

“We thought this would be a great way to enjoy the spring weather, get some exercise, have fun as a team and support a great cause all at the same time,” she wrote in an email.

In hopes of raising money for the CVAC in Binghamton, Resident Director of Digman Hall Sara Bowlin assembled a team of four to participate in the hunt.

“I haven’t seen other groups using ‘Geocaching’ as an event so its a pretty unique idea,” Bowlin wrote in an email. “We get to go on a treasure hunt and do good for our community.”

Due to the event’s success, members of the CCE said they hope to plan a geocache competition every semester.

“We’ve explored some areas of campus that we’ve never been to before and have greatly enjoyed just getting out together and having fun,” Reindl wrote. “This event will likely happen again in the fall, so hopefully we can get even more teams participating then, when finals aren’t looming near.”

Indy Li, Community Emergency Response Team graduate assistant for the CCE and a first-year graduate student studying biomedical anthropology, said she enjoyed exploring campus while helping others.

“I love scavenger hunts,” Li wrote in an email. “When you combine that with raising money for a charity or cause, you can’t really go wrong.”