Mikaleh Offerman, News Editor
October is the month for pumpkins, it seems. Pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks, pumpkins for sale at Walmart and The Great Pumpkin Hunt all add to October’s pumpkin theme. The annual fall scavenger hunt, The Great Pumpkin Hunt, is a fall staple.
The idea for the event was sparked when Edwards was working as an intern at a church in Georgia.
“The youth pastor there was really creative with events, and the pumpkin hunt was one of the most anticipated events every year,” Edwards said.
He decided to apply the same idea to Agee and OBU.
“We spend a lot of time with our friends in pretty easy circumstances, but I have learned that intense competitive situations can really give you good stories, even in the midst of frustration,” Edwards said. “Agee has many shared experiences, and I was wanting to find a way to build upon that.”
“I have a few favorite parts of the event, because it begins with the purchase of the pumpkin,” Agee Resident Director Francis Edwards, who organized the event, said. “People are always excited to see how big it will be every year, and this one was the biggest I’ve been able to find.”
There were sixteen teams totaling 62 players, nine RAs, two RDs and one admissions counselor. All of this combined with a 162 pound pumpkin and $500 as a prize made Friday, Oct. 28 a night to remember.
“The best memory was probably walking into the house where the pumpkin was located, and surprising all the RA’s and RD’s involved in the hunt,” sophomore Matthew Sanders said.
“They weren’t expecting the winners for a while, so we caught them by surprise and they kicked us to the backyard to plaster us with water balloons, flour and silly string,” said Sanders.
The winning team, ‘Straight Outta Pompkin’, consisted of senior Caleb Compton, his older brother Blake Compton, senior Levi Phillips and Sanders.
“We had Caleb the returning champ and local native, Blake the intelligent nursing student and proud DAD, and Me the far-fetch sportsman,” Phillips said. “In searching, we found the all around athlete and juju dance perfectionist Matt Sanders. Once we discovered the fantastic four, we sought to find that large, bold, pumpkin.”
According to Phillips, the team struggled as the underdogs between the third clue and the eighth clue. He went so far so to compare his team to Kevin Durant leaving the Thunder.
“Everyone wanted us to lose,” Phillips said. “But we stayed confident and fought hard. We gave it our best shot and put our brains athletic ability together.”
The turning point for them was finding the eighth clue at Van’s Pig Stand.
“Upon arrival [at Vans], we met our competitor in the form of Drew Bowsher,” Phillips said. “Once the clue was in hand, it was GAME TIME,” he said in an email. “We used our Shawnee knowledge and good ole southern Oklahoma direction skills and drove like a cat out of water screaming and hollering until we found that glorious pumpkin.”
Their strategy for winning was simple.
“Have fun, cooperate together, and only worry about the task at hand,” Phillips said. “People make it too serious sometimes and that’s what’s bad. The more fun you have, the less stress and easier it is to think and the greater chance you have of winning.”
The four teammates split the prize money evenly.
“I don’t know about the rest of the guys, but I think I’m just going to enjoy having money for once,” Sanders said.
thebisonnews.com 
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