OXFORD, Miss. – Taking a cue from reality television,
University of Mississippi students of various racial and
ethnic backgrounds found life can be sweeter when people
work together as a team. And the prizes aren’t too bad
either, including a $2,000 grand prize for the winning
team.
“I gained a really valuable experience about connecting
with people that are different than me,” said Sufian Ahmed,
a junior computer science student from Amman, Jordan.
Ahmed was one of 80 UM students who recently competed in
the OMazing Race. Designed to bring diverse students
together to explore others’ perspectives and opinions, the
two-day competition was based on educating students about
the various historical achievements across the Ole Miss
campus.
“Walking across the University Avenue bridge one day, I
actually stopped to read the historical marker for Hilgard
Cut,” said OMazing Race director Josh Davis, assistant
director of Alumni Affairs. “I’ve passed the marker
hundreds of times in the last 20 years but never noticed it
before. I wanted to employ a scavenger hunt to educate our
students, as well as employ teamwork across racial lines.”
“My main concern was that people would draw conclusions
about me based on the way I look or spoke,” said Taylor
Francesca-Victoria Corso, a freshman business
administration major from Bay St. Louis. “By the end of the
competition, my fears had subsided.”
Thought to be the first program of its kind in the
Southeastern Conference, OMazing Race fielded competitors
of 20 four-member teams, including people from different
ethnicities, genders, religions, sexual orientations and
interests.
“This was the first time a collaborative effort of this
sort was made here at Ole Miss to bring a large number of
diverse students together to explore racial barriers,”
Davis said. “Participants learned to be respectful of
others, while at the same time experienced personal growth.
It was an enriching and enlightening experience.”
The two-day competition included a brief orientation,
dinner and a cultural mapping exercise on the first day.
The final day concluded with a three-hour scavenger hunt,
featuring historical sites across the Ole Miss campus.
Davis said the aim was to place students from different
backgrounds into one setting and encourage them to function
as a team. Part Italian, Cuban and Native American, Corso
said it was a valuable lesson.
“I learned that encouragement, rather than criticism or
complaints, was the most valuable concept to team work,”
she said.
A member of the winning team, Ahmed said he plans to use
his share of the $2,000 grand prize to purchase a moped to
commute to campus: “I was just passing by the registration
booth, and ended up winning the contest,” he said. “It was
really nice.”
Plans for another OMazing Race are under way for next year,
and Davis said he hopes to expand the competition into a
weekend retreat that features more intellectual and skills
competitions.