Written By Lorenz Santarin

The Public Administration and Legal Studies Society hosted their fourth annual Zombie Pandemic Challenge. Students raced through the darkened campus, completing missions while dodging the hordes of ravenous “zombies” hunting them.

Prior to the event, the organizers were concerned that the weather was going to be postponed or even cancelled. Fortunately, the sky cleared up before the event was set to start, and, with the determined efforts of the PALS Society and volunteers, it went off without a hitch.

This year, 15 teams participated in the competition.

The challenge is designed to test participants’ athleticism and their skills in planning, quick thinking and teamwork. They sprinted to the scattered stations to complete as many missions as they could in the time limit.

Missions included the zombie version of “pin the tail on the donkey,” mixing food coloring, and digging in a mystery box, among others.

Each mission required a certain number of members.  Only one mission could be done at a time. Teams spent most of their time running back and forth from the safe zone to report and regroup.

Each competitor was given five strips of caution tape—serving as flags—that the zombies would try to steal. According to the game’s rules, losing all five strips would lead to elimination. Individual zombies could only take one flag at a time.

Due to the physical nature of the challenge, safety was an important concern. The rules discouraged roughhousing and prohibited violence. Referees and facilitators made sure no foul play or injuries occurred.

Unfortunately, some students’ enthusiasm got the better of them and that lead to some problems. Some competitors abused the safety zones, some zombies didn’t follow the one flag limit. Both sides had cases of unnecessary roughness.

PALS members confronted the individuals responsible, but only after the incidents had occurred.

However, that same enthusiasm led to a fierce competition. This year had a six-way tie for the last two spots in the top five after the first phase. Unfortunately, only five could advance, so there was a bonus challenge to determine who was moving on.

When asked for advice for next year’s challenge, a member of one of those six teams, J. Thomas Jackson said, “Just run a lot.”