Elizabeth Pulanco / Winonan

When it is time to find an egg, scramble to the middle of the campus pan, and walk a tick and look a tock then stretch across the numbered grass, not with your legs, but toward big and little hands, to find your egg.”

This was one of many clues provided to students for the Spring Egg Hunt. During the week of March 21, Campus Card Manager Sue Groth and student workers hid the eggs around the Winona State University campus and provided the clues, which were written by professors in the English department, through the daily email update sent to all students and staff.

This specific clue led students and other individuals to find eggs by the clock in the center of Winona State’s main campus.

When Groth began the event nearly seven years ago, it was initially created to promote the Purple Pass system.

“It started as a way to promote Purple Pass, but then it turned into this big event with the egg hunt and basket drawing,” Groth said.

Originally referred to as the “Easter Egg Hunt,” the event is now being called the “Spring Egg Hunt and Basket Drawing.”

“We have gotten a couple of comments about it being called the ‘Easter Egg Hunt,’” Groth said. “I am on the university diversity committee, and creating an inclusive campus is important to me. We just called it the ‘Easter Egg Hunt,’ because we always had it during the week of Easter.”

Along with the egg hunt, students living in the resident halls also signed up to win a basket filled with treats. Groth has worked with different groups around campus, like Canteen Vending, Pepsi, Chartwells and the Winona State Bookstore to provide the different rewards found in the baskets and the hidden eggs.

“Chartwells gives us candy and the bookstore will give us gift cards, hats, T-shirts and lanyards,” Groth said. “We also get donations from local businesses.”

Groth and her student workers also take a little time to have fun with this event as well. Every year, one of her student workers will dress up in a bunny costume and hop down to the University Children’s Center and read books to the children.

This year, sophomore Gabby Ingebrand got the chance to put on the costume.

“The kids love it,” Gabby said.

In addition to visiting the children’s center, the bunny handed out treats to students on campus. During previous years, treats would be distributed outdoors to students making their way across the university, but due to the cooler weather, the snacks were handed out to students in the Smaug.

Senior Hannah Ingebrand, another student worker and Gabby’s sister, helped the bunny hand out the treats.

“People were shocked to see that everything was free,” Hannah said.

According to Groth, the student workers also play a big part in setting up the event.

“The student workers put the baskets together, decorate and deliver them. The students also make the flyers. This event helps teach the student workers about how to work on a project from start to finish,” Groth said.

Not only does this event teach the student workers valuable project managing skills, but it also helps the whole team and people on campus have a little fun.

“I think the students are so stressed with their studying this time of year, that it’s like a nice break,” Groth said. “We like to make people happy in here and do something for the students that is maybe out of the ordinary. I mean, people like treats once in a while.”

Some of the winners of the both the egg hunt and the basket drawing took this opportunity to have a little fun.

First-year student Rachel Schultz, who won the basket drawing for Maria Hall, first read about the event on a flyer and saw the basket sitting at the dorm building’s front desk.

“I was pretty excited to find out I won the basket drawing, because I never really win anything like that,” Schultz said. “These events can really help people get more involved with campus and it gives you a larger sense of community.”

Trisha Nganteh, a sophomore who found one of the hidden eggs, used this event as a way to spend some more time with her friends.

“I thought this would be a fun thing to do with my friends, and just the fact that we had to find a hidden egg was inspiring to me,” Nganteh said. “I found it interesting that we told weird stories about our childhood during this event and it just helped us bond more.”

Senior Leyla Budlimic’s favorite part about the event was finding new places around campus she had never been to.

“I heard about the event from my friend and it seemed like a fun thing to do in between classes,” Budlimic said.

Since Groth and the students working in her office have been working with this event for nearly 10 years, they have been able to create a system that helps the egg hunt and basket drawings run smoothly.

“We have it really organized well since we’ve been doing it for so long. It’s just a fun event,” Groth said. “We’ve been able to highlight our venders and bring exposure to the Purple Pass.”

Over time, the main goals of the Spring Egg Hunt have focused from promotion to simply spreading cheer to the campus. But the priority remained the same for Groth: to maintain the expansion of an enjoyable and inclusive campus community.