Willits High School organizes socially distanced community egg hunt
Willits High School (WHS) kept the Egg Hunt tradition alive, despite the pandemic. Although it was different than most years, because of the pandemic. Over the course of several days, March 29 through April 4, eggs were scattered around town and community members were encouraged to look for eggs at their convenience. While most eggs contained candy, 80 golden eggs contained fake money that could be exchanged at the high school for real money.
WHS Associated Student Body President Claire Case Brackett said of the COVID safe Egg Hunt, “It went really well. We had a lot of people come to the high school to cash in for their money. I think all the eggs got picked up. I saw some people posting on Facebook that they went for a walk and found some, I think it was a success.”
Brackett said the Community Scavenger hunt was a collaborative idea among WHS Student Leadership and inspired by the desire to do something for the community. She explained that organizing
and executing the egg hunt was a team effort among leadership students. Brackett said students broke into smaller groups to take turns “laying” the eggs. Eggs were laid three times; Sunday, Tuesday and Saturday nights. Brackett estimated approximately 300 eggs in total were laid over the course of the week.
WHS Leadership Advisor
Shawna Byrns and Assistant Principal Marian Lohne helped the Leadership students orchestrate the hunt. Byrns said, “I am very pleased to have been part of this community event. It was the highlight of my year.” Flyers were handed out at the other Willits Unified School District (WUSD) schools to get the word out about the hunt to younger students.
Bracket said, “It was our goal to get everyone to participate and have a little bit of normalcy. A scavenger hunt is something that you can do socially distanced. We were happy to do it.”
Community member Jeanne King took her granddaughter Lucy, who is six, to go on the egg hunt. King said that Lucy had heard of the egg hunt
and wanted to go out and look for some. King said, “We had a good time.” She started off the hunt warning Lucy that they might not find any eggs, but at least they would enjoy each other’s company and have a good time together. They walked around for a little while and did not find any eggs for some time Tuesday afternoon until they headed north of Commercial Street on Main Street where they found six eggs, including
one golden egg. King said, “She was thrilled when she found the gold egg and she knew she could take it to the high school where they trade in the play money for a real dollar bill. She thought that was really cool.”
Community members and teachers Carolyn Bakewell, Jennifer Barrett and Brandon Lugwig donated candy, while WUSD classified employees donated money to help fill the eggs.