Carleton’s Amazing Race Fall 2022

Just for context, Amazing Race is a competition organized by the Office of International Student Life (ISL), to give students an opportunity to win prizes and learn about different cultures!

The Rules of the Game

Students were required to form teams if they wanted to participate in the event. There were altogether 13 teams, although some did not show up on the day of the competition. The competition involved completing tasks at different checkpoints around Carleton’s campus. Each checkpoint represented a country and was hosted by International Peer Leaders and ISL’s Office Assistants, and all the tasks organized by these checkpoints were culturally related to the countries they represented.

There were two types of checkpoints: a Detour and a Road Block. A Detour required the members of a team to complete a task together before they are able to move on to the next checkpoint while a Road Block required only one team member to complete a task while the others cheered on. Students were given Route Markers after completing a task at every checkpoint, to help them figure out the next checkpoint to go to.

The Cameroon Checkpoint

The checkpoint I hosted was a Road Block and my theme was juggling. My initial plan was to let students juggle on a soccer ball because soccer is a massive part of teenage and adult life in Cameroon. If you are out on a walk the streets of Bamenda (my hometown), you will notice kids playing soccer within the confines of their neighborhoods or hear noise from soccer fans at a bar around, making bets on whether Mbappé is going to net another goal for Paris Saint-Germain Football Club. Anyways, I also included juggling balls and rings to ensure that people have options to choose the object they are most comfortable with.

At my station, each group had five chances to juggle either a soccer ball, a juggling ball, or a juggling ring ten times. A group that fails in all their chances has a two-minute delay time at my checkpoint before I grant them the clue to the next checkpoint. I feel like my checkpoint was the hardest because only one group was able to complete my challenge. I remember how frustrated some students were with me for making the activity difficult. Nevertheless, I’m glad they got some cardio exercise in and also had a fun time with their teammates.

The Winners

According to the rules, the winners were the first three groups to complete all the challenges in the race. The first, second, and third place got prizes of $75, $50, and $25 in food from any Northfield Restaurant, respectively. Unexpectedly, all the hosts got a treat from ISL to also eat at New Buffet, my go-to restaurant in Northfield. The end!

Bennet is from the town of Bamenda, Cameroon. He is currently undecided but looking forward to a double major in Computer Science and CAMS (Cinema and Media Studies). Aside from blogging, Bennet also works for the Office of International Student Life as a Peer Mentor. On campus, he is part of the African and Caribbean Association (ACA), Men’s Club Soccer, and serves as the Public Relations Officer for Men of Color (MOC). He likes spending his free time reading nonfiction books, working out, watching movies, and hanging out with friends.