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CACHE-ING IN
HIGH-TECH HIDE AND SEEK UNCOVERS
HIDDEN TREASURES
AMANDA SORELL
The KU campus is a beautiful place, offering a stunning vista of the Lawrence landscape and an array of beautiful trees, flowerbeds and sculptures. But some treasures on campus aren't as visible, and there's only way to hunt those treasures down — by geocaching.
Geocaching is described as a "high-tech treasure hunting game," according to www. geocaching.com, where those seeking unseen treasures can log onto the website to find the longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of hidden caches. Caches are containers that include a logbook inside for guests to sign, and possibly small items. According to the website, there are 1,277,030 geocaches in the world, more than 800 of which are in Lawrence. And with an increasing number of smartphones gracing the palms of students, geocaching is more accessible than ever.
Geocachers can find caches by plugging the coordinates into a GPS or smartphone application. Once they locate the cache, which can sometimes be as small as a film canister, they simply sign the logbook with their names and the date and put it back where they found it. Depending on the cache, geocachers can also take a small item, like a sticker or a toy, out of the container if they put an item of similar value back.
At first, geocaching seemed more of a hassle than a pastime for Amy Burgess, an avid geocacher from Overland Park. Burgess says she watched her stepfather do it as she was growing up and never considered doing it herself. But after purchasing a smartphone and seeing the geocaching application, which shows users various locations of nearby caches, she was intrigued by all of the hidden caches around her house in Overland Park. She gave it a shot, and soon, it became one of her favorite activities. Burgess says she now searches with friends and coworkers on her days off, and the hidden caches have led her to places she may never have paid attention to otherwise, like scenic overlooks near Clinton Lake. "You're the mouse and it's the cheese," Burgess says. It's the thrill of the find."
Burgess, who may never have admired the adventure of geocaching were it not for her smartphone, says its one of the best free activities she's found to do, and the geocaching application makes it even easier.
"It's a way to baby step into it," she says. "If you've already spent the money on your phone and it has the app, it's not as accurate as the GPS but it's easier to use and a lot more accessible, so I think it's growing in popularity."
Dawn Kirchner, senior museum educator, says the caches on campus are some of the easiest to find, but just as geocaching is for people of any age, it can also be as easy or as difficult as geocachers desire. Some of the more extreme caches across the world, Kirchner says, are hidden so that geocachers have to scuba dive or repel off of a cliff to uncover. But she says even the easy ones in public places are thrilling to find.
"It's just a lot of fun. You can do it going to the grocery store. It puts a sense of adventure into everyday things," Kirchner says.
Just as campus is more than meets the eye, Mass Street also contains more than shops and restaurants, but only if you know where to look. Alli Butler, Overland Park senior, says geocaching is fun because it's a goal-oriented activity, and it's caused her to spend more time noticing the details of her surroundings.
"Before I geocached, I walked up and down Mass Street hundreds of times and never knew that right around the corner from me there was a little geocache," Butler says. "If you don't remove them, over time, they're little pieces of history." Jp
Photo illustration | Sarah Hocket
Buried treasure: For the adventurer in you, check out the geocaching apps available on your phone. You could uncover hidden gems on Mass Street, behind your house or even on campus. Just be sure to play by the rules, and put back an item if you take one.
Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned geocacher, it helps to know the geocaching lingo. These and other terms used to describe the activity can be found at www.geocaching.com.
Geocache - A hidden container that contains a logbook to sign and, depending on the size of the cache, various items left behind by geocachers.
Geocaching - An activity that geocachers partake in all around the world, where caches are hidden and found by other geocachers using GPS or smartphone technology.
Geocoin - A geocoin is a trackable item left behind in a cache. Geocachers can then log on to the website and see where the item has been and where it goes.
GPS - GPS, which stands for Global Positioning System, is a system of satellites that receive signals from a GPS receiver to determine its exact location.
Ground Zero - When a geocacher's GPS or smartphone tells them they are at the cache location, he or she is at ground zero and it's time to start looking for the hidden cache.
Muggie - A non-geocacher, often someone who looks at a geocacher strangely when they're rummaging around in bushes in the park.
Signature Item — A unique item left behind by a geocacher at every cache he or she visits.
Spoiler — Information that gives away the location or presence of a cache, thereby ruining it for potential geocachers — something this article tried carefully not to do!
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Chelsea Freeman, a freshman from Wichita, helps children from the Boys and Girls Club create handmade ornaments during the Mentors in the Lives of Kids' (M.I.L.K.) annual holiday party in the ballroom of the Kansas Union. M.I.L.K. formed a new group, Girls Club, that promotes social and financial independence for fifth- and sixth-grade girls. The curriculum is designed to empower young girls and teach them that a man isn't necessary for a successful life. The group begins its lessons in January. M.I.L.K. is run by two coordinators, senior Laura Davis and sophomore Carlye Yanker.
Devon Cantwell, a junior from Topeka and a member of M.I.L.K., said at the end of the program the young girls will hold a bake sale to use their newly learned skills. She said the bake sale would teach the
BY SAMANTHA COLLINS
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"Any girl or woman who is confident and independent is bound to have a much brighter future," Davis said. "It will be the future that she chooses to have, whatever that may be."
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Carlye Yanker, a sophomore from St. Louis and co-coordinator of M.I.L.K., said she thought it would be easier to work with all
The on-campus student group Mentors in the Lives of Kids, or M.I.L.K., created a new program, the Girls Club, this year to teach life skills and promote economic self-sufficiency for fifth- and sixth-grade girls. M.I.L.K. is run through the Center for Community Outreach. The Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence provides affordable after-school care for about 1,200 children. Laura Davis, a senior from Lawrence and co-coordinator of M.I.L.K., said the group often worked with the Boys and Girls Club and thought the new program would work well with the children there.
The 10-week curriculum addresses issues like stereotypes and how the girls view themselves, how women are viewed in advertisements, spending, credit cards, sales tax, budgeting and savings. The program will start next semester in January.
If you want to get involved with the Mentors in the Lives of Kids, e-mail: milk@ku.edu.
"They are constantly inundated with imagery of women that they are expected to look like or act like," Davis said.
She said she believed it was important to target girls at an early age to address these issues and the truth surrounding the expectations and stereotypes, which was why a large section of the curriculum was devoted to self-image.
Davis said she hoped to provide mentorship during the "awkward period" and help girls become individually stronger.
Students should also take care of their mental and physical well-being to succeed with finals. Student Success has launched a new website with schedules for stress-busting events and exercise classes to help students out with this stressful time of year.
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Report: Number of international students increasing at University
"They can be part of a cool exclusive girls club," Yanker said.
Davis said stereotypes and expectations of the "perfect woman" often cause young girls to become self-conscious.
"The man doesn't always have to make the money," Cantwell said.
For an'A,' do more than study
CAMPUS | 3A
said. "Law for potholes had." Day now have dual pothole asting fix for
FINALS|3A
International students, who come mainly from China, Saudi Arabia Indonesia and the Republic of Korea, now make up 7 percent of the nearly 30,000-person student body.
age. When she was driving her car to the shop for an oil change and tuneup.
"I'm used to hitting potholes
"As a poor college student, you cross your fingers that this one didn't pop your tire or bend your rim," Strusz said.
No luck. The mechanics told Strusz, a senior from Republic, Mo., that her rim was cracked and bent. A new one cost her $150.
If you search "Eudora, KS pothes" on Google, you get 1,500 results. For Topeka, there are 15,000 results. Going east down K-10, DeSoto has 21,000, Olathe has 19,000 and Overland Park has 37,000 Google results.
But search "Lawrence, KS
"Notorious"
10A
KU beat out UCLA in the final second after a controversial call sent Mario Little to the free throw line with the game tied at 76 and 0.7 seconds left. Check out our post-game coverage.
SEE POTHOLES ON PAGE 3A
INDEX
Kansas lucks out with late foul call
Classifieds. ...8A
Crossword. ...4A
Cryptoquips. ...4A
Opinion. ...5A
Sports. ...10A
Sudoku. ...4A
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