Residence Hall Association (RHA) hosted its annual Spring Egg Hunt this past Sunday, April 6 in the Residential Quad from 1 pm – 2:30 pm. The Egg Hunt welcomed over 60 students and all were encouraged to enjoy live acoustic music, Rita’s fresh water ice, candy, gifts, and 200 eggs that eager students searched for around campus.
The eggs were strategically placed and hidden on the residential side of campus, with the help of RHA’s executive board members. Ten of the eggs consisted of prize winning numbers. Willow Hall, Spruce Hall, and Mullaney Hall contained some of the prize winning eggs for the day and there was even a winning egg hidden by the underpass on the Residential side of campus.
Courtney Carr, a junior communication major, and Rachael Brady, a junior RHA executive board member, helped to hide all of the eggs and knew the locations of the final two prizing-winning eggs.
Krista Varanyak, RHA President, along with other executive board members helped to make what attendees called Sunday’s event “a huge success.” Preparation for the Spring Egg Hunt took about two hours, and RHA was responsible for compiling 10 complimentary gift baskets to the winners of the hunt, with all baskets including a $50 Visa gift card, Peeps, Swedish Fish, M&Ms, and other assorted candies.
Rachael Thalheimer, a freshman and dedicated guitar player and singer, was asked on behalf of RHA to provide live music and entertainment for the afternoon. She sang everything from, “Drops of Jupiter” by Train to “She Will Be Loved” by Maroon 5. Thalheimer bravely embraced her vocals and students and guests. Thalheimer said, “I love coming out to events and sharing my music and I am glad that people enjoyed it. The egg hunt was a huge success too and it was my pleasure to come out and support it.”
Chelsea Penn, a sophomore health studies major, attended the Spring Egg hunt for the first time with her friends to see what all the commotion was about. Penn said, “I would do this again and it is really nice of RHA to put something like this together for the students and commuters.” Penn was the first winner of a gift basket at the event.
Jessica Anastasio, a Pinewood Hall resident, attended the Spring Egg hunt for her second time while attending the University. Not only did Anastasio win last year, but with the help of her friends, she managed to snag two prize-winning eggs this year. “I guess I just have that good luck considering this is my second year attending. Although this is an annual event, it is definitely the biggest turn out I have seen,” said Anastasio.
The Spring Egg Hunt was made possible by all those who volunteered their Sunday afternoon and time in addition to those who helped to plan and prepare. Varanyak stated that although the Egg hunt is an annual event, this one was by far the most successful one yet.
Varanyak said, “The addition of Rita’s Italian Ice and [the live] music was definitely a great idea. Even if students did not have a winning egg, at least they could enjoy fresh ice, music, and an afternoon with friends.” While the Spring Egg hunt was one of the last events RHA has planned for the spring 2014 school year, Varanyak said, on behalf of the executive board members staff, RHA is excited to plan more events and look forward to having another Spring Egg Hunt in the future.
PHOTOS TAKEN by Nina Costa
