INNISFAIL – Athena Pare has achieved perfection.
The 17-year-old Innisfailian created The Search for Hope Scavenger Hunt last month. It was held over a two-week period with eight different stops throughout town.
It was an idea Pare had for a positive citizenship class assignment.
Shortly after school ended on June 19 she learned her idea scored a perfect 100 per cent.
“My social teacher said, word for word, that I ‘got out of the project what he wanted all the other students to get out of it,” said Pare, a graduate from Red Deer’s École Secondaire Notre Dame High School.
Just as importantly for Pare, town officials thought her idea was so good they immediately agreed to extend the scavenger hunt for the entire summer.
“It’s fantastic. It is great that you have somebody, a local youth wanted to make something that would make people happy, and she did just that,” said Kane Williams, the town’s recreation program coordinator, noting the extension is a result of public demand.
"It went so well the first time she said she wanted to make it a little bit bigger and run it for the entire summer. You know what? She did such a good job with this that it wasn’t an issue for us to look through with what she was asking for and give her the go ahead.”
Pare’s scavenger hunt will not only be extended but it will be bigger and better. In fact, it promises to push back all the COVID-19 blues to celebrate every single joy of summer.
“The message before was more pandemic related but the new one focuses on summer and looking at the positives of the warm sunny season and to remember what it is about, and to be grateful you remember what it is about,” said Pare, admitting she was overwhelmed with the response to the first scavenger hunt.
“To hear there was such a great response from it and that there were people longing for it to come back, I thought was amazing and I didn’t want to let people fall back into the routine of every day and continuing on with life.”
The stars are also back but the renewed scavenger hunt has been enlarged to have 12 star stops, four more than the first one last month. Some of the star locations have been removed and replaced with new ones.
Pare has kept the same intro to the journey – marked with a one-word message: “HERE” - at the first star stop because without it, she says, participants could get confused and lost.
Most importantly for all participants to remember is that there will not be a pot of gold when they arrive at the 12th stop of the extended scavenger hunt. The real treasure for each participant, insists Pare, will be found within themselves.
And the town could not be happier to be part of Pare’s inspiration as it gets people outside to participate in a safe COVID-era activity where all social distancing guidelines are respected.
“It hits all the right notes, or awesome notes. It offers a bit of a challenge. It visits different spots they might not go to otherwise. I am hoping lots so people do this by foot or by bike,” said Kane.
“I think it is great local story, a local youth who decided she wanted to do something. It is making people smile in a time when it is kind of tough to do that some times.”
