Hey! We’re Megan, Gabby, and Shannon, and together we make up The Scoop: a team of 3 CAP 105 students at Grand Valley State University on a digital scavenger hunt. We traveled across GVSU’s Allendale campus to capture some photos, film videos, recreate memes, and find fun facts about some of our favorite campus locations. We’ve also documented our adventures on Twitter using #TheScoopGVSU, so be sure to check it out! The goal of The Scoop is to deliver you fun yet factual information about GVSU. Also, we just love to eat ice cream! 🙂
Mary Idema Pew Library
First stop on our scavenger hunt tour was the Mary Idema Pew Library! With over 150,000 square feet of study space, MIP – as the library is often called by students – is LEED-certified and uses less than half of the energy normally required to power a building of its size. With designated quiet and loud areas, it’s a perfect space for students to both collaborate on group projects and study independently.
Oh, and did we mention there is an Argo Tea on-site at MIP?? This little cafe serves some of the best coffee and tea on campus, and it makes the first floor of the library one of our favorite places to hang out! Watch this video for a short tour. 🙂
Paradigm: An Art Sculpture
Next, we headed over to the Thomas and Marcia Haas Center for the Performing Arts so I could take a photo by one of my favorite art sculptures on campus: Paradigm, a wooden sculpture crafted by Steve Wood. The simplicity and mystery of this art piece is what strikes me as so interesting about it. All it is is a large, plain black piece of wood shaped like a sail, but I walk by it on my way to class every day and always wonder what the artist meant for it to represent. Most of the other art pieces in the GVSU PAC have descriptions next to them explaining how or why the artist chose to create the piece they did. However, Steve Wood’s piece is left entirely up to the viewer’s imagination, and I really like that about it. Sometimes I like to envision the sculpture as a giant black banana peel.
Vadering Meme
So, how did we do? This classic meme took off in 2013 and features a recreation of the Star Wars character Darth Vader using the Force to put his enemies in a chokehold. (By the way, if you haven’t seen Star Wars, we are genuinely concerned for you.)
Kirkhof Center
It wouldn’t be a GVSU scavenger hunt without a stop at Kirkhof Center. This iconic GVSU building was opened in 1973 and was the first official student center on campus. Originally, it was named “Campus Center” until its name changed in 1982 to honor donor Russell Kirkhof.
Quidditching Meme
I’m going to be totally honest, I don’t think any of us knew that we could jump this high. We recreated the Quidditching meme using a trusty selfie stick and a camera timer, and it was a blast! The meme was made popular in 2013 by Harry Potter fans who wanted to see if they could play the wizarding world sport in real life. (And don’t tell us you haven’t seen Star Wars OR Harry Potter…)
GVSU Foundation Report Findings
To discover a little bit more information about the financials of GVSU, we dove into the 2019 GVSU Foundation’s annual report on giving and found some awesome numbers. For one, 19 new scholarships were funded this year by donors, bringing the total number of donor-funded scholarships at GVSU to 534. To a student like me who is funded by one of these donor-based awards, this is exciting to hear! A big thank-you to all of the donors who provide scholarships to allow students to get the eye-opening education and experiences that GVSU provides.
It was also interesting to learn about the breakdown of how donor funds were allocated this year. An overwhelming majority (56%) of the total $23.8 million raised goes to improving academic facilities and programs at GVSU. If I did the math right, that’s a total of around 13.3 million dollars. No wonder there is a new academic building constructed almost every year!
To read more of the GVSU Foundation’s annual report, visit https://www.gvsu.edu/giving/ar2019/
Distracted Boyfriend Meme
Up next, more meme creation! The Distracted Boyfriend meme is one of our favorites, because it was never intended to be a meme in the first place! It became Internet-popular in 2015 when Spanish stock photographer Antonio Guillem posted materials from a photoshoot intended to represent the consequences of being unfaithful in a relationship. What happened from then on is history.
Zumberge Pond
Next, we stopped by Zumberge pond to enjoy the view before it becomes covered in ice and snow. Both this pond and the office building that rises behind it are named for Grand Valley’s first president, James H. Zumberge, who held the office from 1963-1969. Zumberge was also a successful geologist, and has two sites in Antarctica named after him!
Condescending Wonka Meme
Even though we didn’t recreate it, I have to stop and talk about a favorite meme of mine, the Condescending Wonka meme. A creepy yet funny screengrab of Gene Wilder from the original 1971 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film caught wildfire in 2011 when people began adding sarcastic and witty captions to it, like the one above. In fact, the meme initially started as a way for members of online forums to cheekily greet new entrants with the caption “Welcome to the Internet. You must be new here.” No matter the intent, I am a big fan of dry and sarcastic humor, and I love scrolling through different recreations of the Condescending Wonka meme and reading the snarky things people have to say. And judging by the sheer number of different ones I’ve been able to find, I’d say that it’s pretty important to Internet culture. Memes in general are quick, relatable, and usually humorous ways to get a message across in very few words.
Cook-Carillon Tower
I couldn’t think of a better spot to end our tour than the beautiful Cook-Carillon tower! With a working carillon inside the tower made of 48 bronze-cast bells made in the Netherlands, the university actually offers classes to students on how to play the instrument. The carillon also has an automated play system that chimes every quarter of an hour, so students on the Allendale campus always know what time it is when they hear its beautiful, ringing sound.
Laker for A Lifetime!
Though it feels odd to be graduating in a short four months, Grand Valley will always be a home to me! I’ve made so many fond memories and valuable connections across the three and a half years I’ve spent at GVSU, and I’m sure I will make even more during my final semester. I’m excited to move out into the world and use the skills I’ve gained here to help build positive change in the community. Gonna be a proud Laker for a Lifetime!
And that’s a wrap! We had so much fun on our digital scavenger hunt around GVSU, and we hope that you learned something new along with us! Remember to check out #TheScoopGVSU on Twitter if you’re interested in learning even more about our adventures and our findings. 🙂 Additionally, you can find Gabby and Shannon’s recap pages of our scavenger hunt below:
Gabby: https://milnes2417.wordpress.com/portfolio/
Shannon: https://shannoncap105.wordpress.com/final-exam-field-trip-around-gv/
Thanks for reading!
Megan Ireland 