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Many people and organizations are working to come up with unique ways to keep busy and have fun during this difficult time.
Pittsburg State Library Services is now offering a virtual escape room which is based on Pitt State but is not a true story.
An escape room can be played alone or with a group and participants find hidden clues and solve puzzles in order to advance to the next room.
According to Learning Outreach Librarian Ruth Monnier, they came up with the idea for a couple of different reasons.
“There was a couple of… (reasons) why we started to think about it,” Monnier said. “…We were thinking if we were students, what would we really be missing? We’d obviously be missing those last milestones, seeing our fellow friends, but also like campus itself. There’s a big attachment to certain spots, there are memories that are there. So, that was one component. The other component is at the end of last semester, we had a library worker who was graduating and… they were an international student and so their parents had travelled to come see them for graduation. It wasn’t just like if you’re in the U.S. where it’s a couple hours or maybe even just like 15 minutes, their parents had travelled over 24 hours to come visit them at PSU and to see them graduate. So, our current graduates, particularly… our internationals or those are really far away, like those moments of showing your parents around campus… they’re not getting those moments at the time they were expecting to get them. So, we kind of wanted to have something there for everyone who is kind of missing campus and wants to show it off to family or relatives who couldn’t or at this time can’t travel because of the pandemic.”
Knowing that not everyone who wants to participate has the time to, Monnier says that it will be open until at least August.
“…For the escape room, it opens up today (Tuesday, April 28),” Monnier said. “The link is live and so it will be live for a good while. So, I don’t think we’ll pull it down before August. So, particularly because we know at the end of the semester the pandemic has… (impacted) everybody’s life so we have students who are frontline essential workers… So, they… (may) not have a moment right now and dead week and finals week is coming up as well. So, we wanted to have it so that its open so if you’re looking for something right now, you have it or if you need to do it later on…”
Many are disappointed that they will not get to showoff PSU to their families during events such as graduation, but this is a way to do that online without leaving your house.
“It is open to anyone and everyone,” Monnier said. “So.., say you have a grandma, great aunt or just a friend and you want to do it together you can set up a Zoom or video calling platform, you guys can go screenshare and do it together. But if you’re grandma and grandpa are further away but they like really wanted to see what your life is like they can still do it. So, it’s open to anyone and everyone because we all need some things to do to… (keep) engaging with each other during these times when we’re not able to go physically and in person and do activities. So, it’s open to everyone in the PSU community, friends of the PSU community and just people who need something to do.”
Since it is a virtual escape room and not an in person escape room, there are some differences however Monnier believes it is still entertaining and challenging.
“…We’d like to have it open to anyone who wants to do it and they’re needing something to do or looking for something just a little bit different…,” Monnier said. “But for those who are used to doing them in person, its less physical obviously… But it’s still, I think, a lot of fun. It still challenges your brain in a way where its enjoyable to do so.”
Anyone can compete at https://bit.ly/DiscoverPSU.
