SC Outfitters partnered with Cotopaxi’s 24-hour Questival race to complete challenging tasks across California and give back to the community.
Hundreds of students took to exploring famous landmarks all across California from Friday to Saturday in the outdoor clothing and gear retailer Cotopaxi’s first “Questival” challenge at USC. Several clubs and registered student organizations from across the University — including SC Outfitters, Peaks and Professors, USC Climbing Club, Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment, SC Garden Club, Spoon and USC Triathlon — participated in the 24-hour race.
Teams of two to six people worked together to complete challenges ranging from painting their nails orange, doing a community cleanup at Hoover Recreation Center and traveling to the Mobius Arch in Lone Pine, earning points along the way.
The winning team, Gian + Grace’s Gaba Gool Goons, ended with a whopping 35,550 points after recreating a scene from “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” (2005) in Death Valley and taking photos with the windmills in Indio Valley. Teams Questival Quties and emoticons came in second and third, with 31,750 and 30,200 points, respectively. The top three teams received Cotopaxi gear and gifts from the yerba mate maker Guayakí, sportswear manufacturer HOKA ONE ONE, and skin and hair care manufacturer Sunbum.
Cotopaxi’s Questival aimed to promote their mission to “[fuel] both outdoor experiences and global change” through challenges that promoted outdoor experiences and giving back to the community.
Gretchen Rudolph, the team manager organizing Questival and a senior majoring in communication, said it was exciting to bring a new activity to campus that “empowers students to engage with their community and make some positive change, give back [and] make friends.”
“In a world where we’re very in tune with our social media and our phones, it’s great to create an event that just encourages people to go out and explore their campus, engage with their community and learn more about California and make a positive impact along the way,” Rudolph said. “Events like these are needed now more than ever.”
A “DO GOOD” challenge that many participating teams attempted at USC was passing out 20 notes of encouragement to students studying at Leavey Library.
“I talked to a few teams last night who said that they had people come up to them afterward and talk about how it just made their day,” Rudolph said. “So it’s really fun to create that sort of warm and kind-spirited environment around USC.”
Navya Singh, a senior majoring in business administration, said she saw Questival as one last way to spend a lot of time together with her friends and make memories while giving back to the community. She said she thought a great challenge was hosted by Peaks and Professors, where students wrote letters to their professors expressing their appreciation.
“We’re always very grateful for our professors, so taking the moment to show our gratitude and give thanks back was pretty cool,” said Singh, who also enjoyed some of the lighter challenges, like rolling down Hammock Hill.
Sifa Wangia, a sophomore majoring in electrical and computer engineering, said she decided to join the event because it seemed like a fun mystery to spend 24 hours exploring L.A. After participating in the challenge with a random group of people through SC Outfitters, completing challenges like watching the sunset from the top of a parking garage on campus, Wangia said she thought there should be more events like Questival at USC.
“Creating and finding communities that you might not be a part of and just doing things outside of your comfort zone, maybe with people you don’t know at first and then becoming friends with them — I think is a super important part of college,” Wangia said.
