Seniors go head-to-head in annual ‘Amazing Race’ in SF

Running like the wind, 10 teams of Media Arts Program (MAP) seniors raced back to the train station on Sept. 13, checking their clocks every minute. The pace quickened as they sprinted to make each crosswalk, while the recorders of each group glanced at the list of challenges left to complete in their 9-mile race around San Francisco.

At the start of each year, the MAP senior class embarks on the team-building activity known as the “Amazing Race.” Similar to the CBS TV show with the same name, teams of three to four students accompanied by a teacher chaperone are assigned more than 40 tasks to complete in under four and a half hours. Each task is allotted a certain amount of points ranging from five to 20, depending on how difficult the challenge is. The team with most points was awarded 3 percent extra credit.

“Using the ‘GooseChase’ app, we uploaded pictures and videos of our team completing tasks and kept track of all the team rankings,” Jane Lee said. “The app was like a simple notification service (SNS), since our Media Arts teacher, Mr. (Joel) Tarbox, kept sending announcements and comments to our phones posing as the MAP God.”

The tasks allowed seniors to explore several aspects of San Francisco including Chinatown, the Financial District, Nob Hill and North Beach. While students traveled around the city, random tasks such as kissing strangers and buying bubbles were listed for points as well.

At the start of the race, teams were given $160, a crossword to complete for 50 points and a start and finish time. If students were not back to the train station by their assigned finish time, 10 points was docked for every minute they were late.

Adam Sturge’s team was nearly late to the finish line, but luckily made it back in time after running two miles to the train station in 20 minutes.

Sturge appreciated the exposure of going to a big city like San Francisco, since he was able to see things that are not in Saratoga.

“It’s really eye opening to get exposure to not only the environment, but also to the people in it,” Sturge said.

Sturge’s opinions are similar to those of Gina Hinojosa, who also enjoyed exploring the city without a certain order of tasks to do or landmarks to learn about.

Hinojosa got a true taste for the random challenges students were given when she got a task to give a smooch to one of San Francisco’s furry friends.

“The best task was where we had to a kiss somebody’s dog on the street for 15 points,” Hinojosa said. “I love dogs, and watching the other seniors kiss dogs was so cute.”

The seniors said they had a challenging, yet exciting, time on one of their last few MAP field trips. “Amazing Race” was a trip surely filled with life lessons, such as planning ahead, using money wisely and being able to complete goals as a team.

“I learned that you have to move fast to achieve your goals,” Hinojosa said. “Even though we got seventh place, I feel like my team and I accomplished a lot together and made it through all the struggles of ‘Amazing Race.’”

The winners of “Amazing Race” was Team 1, which included Chris Auches, Nafisa Hussain, Angela Lee, Julia Miller and James Parden, and chaperoned by Physics teacher Matt Wealander.