Geocaching: Learning disguised as a treasure hunt

Kids ran across the campus of Elizabethtown Community and Technical College in what would have been a traditional treasure hunt if the treasure map was anything like traditional maps of the past.

Jill Pickett

Sabrina Bergmann, 10, keeps an eye on a GPS unit and runs in the direction of a hidden stamp Thursday during the geography course of the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College Summer Kids' College at the campus in Elizabethtown. The participants hunted for rubber stamps hidden by their instructors.

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Jill Pickett

Olivia Marks, right, gives students the coordinates for the next hidden rubber stamp Thursday during the geography course of the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College Summer Kids' College at the campus in Elizabethtown.

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Jill Pickett

Students take off running as they hunt for a hidden rubber stamp using gps units during the geography course of the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College Summer Kids' College at the campus in Elizabethtown.

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Jill Pickett

Jaylon Hurt, 11, programs coordinates into a GPS unit to use it to guide him to a hidden item during the geography course of the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College Summer Kids' College program.

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ECTC hosted a geography class through its summer Kids College this past week. Children gathered at the main campus to learn how to use a compass, a Global Positioning System and how to do geocaching, a treasure hunt of sorts in which participants use a GPS to find items.

The geography class was taught by Olivia Marks, who has taught classes with Kids College for a few years. Marks enjoys teaching classes because of the excitement kids have when they find items hidden on campus.

“It’s like Christmas for them,” Marks said.

She said children are lucky to have these opportunities during summer. Kids College offers classes on subjects such as robotics and video game design. There are scholarships available for those who can’t pay.

“It’s just introducing them to so many aspects of things,” Marks said.

Students searched for rubber stamps Thursday. After entering coordinates into a GPS, they raced each other across the campus lawns, eager to be the first to find stamps.

“Oh, I see it,” shrieked Sabrina Bergmann.

Bergmann, 10, was interested in the treasure hunt aspect of the class.

“I like playing hide and seek and stuff,” she said.

She had never used a GPS or a compass until this class.

“Now I figured out it’s really easy if you learn,” she said.

Andy Ray, 10, has enjoyed learning how to use GPS, she said. Her mother is a geography major and thought Ray would enjoy the class. Ray plans to take the robotics class as well.

“It’s cool to do because I’m learning stuff while I’m having so much fun,” she said.

Call Workforce Solutions at ECTC at (270) 706-8702 to learn about upcoming Kids College classes and scholarships.

Kelly Cantrall be reached at (270) 505-1747 or kcantrall@thenewsneterprise.com.