Junior creates geocaching club

Club+founder+Eve+Feldman+geocaching+in+Clinton+River+Park.+%E2%80%9CGeocaching+has+enhanced+my+want+to+explore+and++nd+amazing+things+outdoors%2C%E2%80%9D+Feldman+said.

Photo credit: Eve Feldman

Club founder Eve Feldman geocaching in Clinton River Park. “Geocaching has enhanced my want to explore and nd amazing things outdoors,” Feldman said.

By Michal Ruprecht, Intern

Junior Eve Feldman has started a Geocaching Club with library media specialist Amanda Pata as the adviser. The club’s informational meeting was held on Oct. 15 and any students are allowed to join.

“I hope that the club draws in members with lots of different interests — geocaching could be a great social equalizer,” Pata said via email.

According to www.geocaching.com, geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game in which users use GPS-enabled devices to find geocaches hidden at specific coordinates. Once an individual discovers a geocache, they can write their name in the geochache’s logbook and leave an item for the next geocacher to find. There is a now an app in which users can log their finds and search for others.

Pata has been geocaching since 2008 and has found over 1000 caches in 12 different states and one other country. Feldman, who has been geocaching for several years, approached Pata about being the adviser for the club so she could geocache with other interested students.

Feldman has noticed students become more motivated to explore when they are geocaching.

“I really think teens, especially now since a lot of them are stuck indoors and they don’t really have an opportunity or a drive to go outside … could benefit from this ‘cause this gives them a reason to go outside and it’s really just fun, you just have adventures and (can) find cool places,” Feldman said.

Geocaching has opened many doors for Feldman and she hopes this club can provide similar opportunity for others.

“A lot of different types of people would like this and they would be able to bond between this, especially when I’m connecting with different groups of people in the community,” Feldman said. “I have done a bunch of stuff just because geocaching led me there.”

To learn more about the club, go to gpngeocaching.blogspot.com