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Freshmen get to know UH campus with Frosh Frenzy’s Amazing Race

Incoming freshman and transfer students raced frantically across campus Thursday in an effort to get to know their professors and win book scholarships.

The Amazing Race, hosted by the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and part of UH’s first annual Frosh Frenzy, had seven teams of five to seven students competing to reach the end of a route ranging through eight campus landmarks.

"The more students get involved, the more likely they’ll feel like they’re a part of the University, the more likely they’ll be proud of the University and the more likely they’ll succeed. If they make the mistake of treating it just like it’s a classroom they’re not going to get everything they can out of it," chemistry professor Simon Bott said.

The students gathered clues across campus to locations including the University Health Center, Hofheinz Pavilion, M.D. Anderson Library and the Student Service Center.

"We wanted to make the landmarks places they would need to know (if) they got sick or something like that happens," said Dawnelle Prince-Parks, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics director of recruitment and retention and Frosh Frenzy coordinator.

The clue for Ezekiel W. Cullen Fountain was "where dihydrogen monoxide never stops running" and the clue for the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center was "where you go to build muscular endurance."

The students were divided into teams according to their majors. Earth and atmospheric science professor Barry Lefer and physics professor Robert Duboise led a joint team. There were three biology teams, one computer science team, a math team and a chemistry group lead by Bott.

Books scholarship prizes for the winning teams amounted to $500, $200 and $100 respectively.

Students from all walks of natural sciences and mathematics, including Natural Science and Mathematics ambassadors and members from the American Student Association and TeachHouston, came to support the Frosh Frenzy.

"The best part is to let students have an opportunity to interact with faculty, (and) to learn more about programs and student organizations within the college," TeachHouston math master teacher Susan Williams said.

Donations for the event, which offered free pizza and drinks for incoming freshman, came from the college’s departments, the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Alumni Association, the dean’s office and Coca-Cola.

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