Original Publish date: Nov. 2019
On November 6th, Tri-C Western Campus held an event featuring an escape room, where students were invited to solve puzzles to pass through various classrooms within the college to complete the challenge in the fastest amount of time. The theme within the escape room was centered around the school-wide common read book, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green.
The challenges included cracking a code using a periodic table of elements, finding a key by discovering a motion sensor in the painting, opening a lock, solving a puzzle. Finally, to complete the escape room each team had to hold hands with each other around a table until the song “We Are the Champions” by Queen plays a signal stating the team has completed the challenge. All these rooms were inspired by chapters in the book as well as some of the characters. At the end, participants would receive the time it took them to complete the challenges, in hopes of being the team with the lowest time in order to win the prize.
Despite the theme of the event, participants did not need to read the book beforehand to be able to engage in the activities. This was beneficial to some students that were unfamiliar with the story but enjoy experiencing escape rooms. At the event, cake was also provided as well, which only took a few minutes for students to devour. There was also a Lego station where students had the opportunity to play with Legos as well as construct “Carl’s world,” a reference from the book. Through this, many students took part in creating a large city with diverse sculptures.
Overall, students enjoyed having the opportunity to work alongside their friends while facing the various obstacles in the escape rooms. They conversed over some delicious cake and had the chance to express some creativity through building with the Legos. The event was a huge success, and part of numerous events over the course of the year in correlation with the common read book, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green. For more information about the common read program, and future events, visit https://www.tri-c.edu/programs/liberal-arts-and-sciences/english/common-reading/index.html
