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More than 50 students participated in the Museum of Peoples and Culture’s second annual “Amazing Race” on Sept. 27, despite scattered showers.
The race led students to ancient artifacts all over campus. At every stop, racers completed various challenges that gave them firsthand curator experience.
Racers learned how to care for, display and interpret art collections and artifacts.
“Each leg of the race is museum themed, so it’s something that a museum curator would do,” said Shaina Robbins, the graduate student who planned the event. “At each spot they have to do a curator job, like filling out condition reports and designing a mount for a museum object.”
Students had to carry a hollowed-out egg artifact with them throughout the whole race. Each team would face an eight-minute time penalty if the egg broke during the race.
Students examined petroglyphs, dinosaur bones and ancient boulders then raced back to the museum and created an exhibit for their egg based on what they found.
Last year’s winning team conquered again, but not without a little controversy.
Although “Team Werewolf” arrived back at the museum second, it surpassed “Team J.A.T.H.” for the win.
Winning team leader and BYU student Sam Anderson said the win was accomplished through perseverance, focus and the drive to win.
“Well we were pretty disheartened to see that we weren’t the first ones back because we fully expected to win. But they told us we were less than a minute behind and that there was one challenge left that could put us ahead,” Anderson said. “Winning the exhibit competition felt fantastic. Seeing the other group’s exhibits, we were pretty confident that we would win. Our curator’s skills were on point Saturday.”
Although deluxe prize packages were set aside for the winning team, every team left with swag.
“We had over $80 worth of prizes from Brick Oven alone,” Robbins said. “Everyone who participates goes home with a little swag bag with things from the museum.”
For some it wasn’t just about the win but also about the educational experience.
“I heard about the race from my humanities class,” said Josh Ziegner, a sophomore studying exercise science. “My professor mentioned it for our arts encounter project. I was excited to learn more about culture and humanities, so I thought this was a fun way to do it.”
The Museum of Peoples and Cultures puts on activities and events for students and the whole Provo community every week.
“Last summer we held a Passport event that brought in over 400 people,” said Amanda Chase, event planner for the museum. “With over 50 students participating, we hope we can have even more people come to our future events.”
For more information on events at the Museum of Peoples and Cultures, visit mpc.byu.edu.
