GMS Juniors Easter Egg Hunt/Field Trip March 2024

GMS Juniors Easter Egg Hunt/Field Trip in Georgia
Sunday, March 25, 2024

The GMS calendar said it was time for our annual Easter Egg hunt, but Mother Nature’s calendar said it was time for some storms. Never fear! Our back-up plan kicked in, and we relocated the festivities to the GMS building where Diana Poppelreuter and Cristina Clines arrived early to fill and hide eggs. Originally meant to be an Easter Egg hunt and field trip, heavy rain and mud nixed the field trip part, so juniors didn’t get to collect kyanite. However, they were still curious about the mineral, so Charles showed them some samples and answered their questions.

After they waited (impatiently) for us to explain the rules of the hunt, juniors got on their marks, Cristina did a crazy countdown, and they were off! Cristina had some tricky hiding places for the eggs, but sharp-eyed juniors managed to find all of them, with not a single egg left behind. Some special eggs had a number inside, so juniors received door prizes too, including sparkling geodes and dinosaur dig kits.

By the way, an Easter egg hunt GMS style is not a typical easter egg hunt. Instead of candy, the eggs are filled with rocks and fossils! Jane Stone, GMS Special Events Coordinator, made our jobs incredibly easy by pre-bagging the specimens and including labels. We left one specimen in each bag and laid them out on a table for juniors to use for identifying their goodies! Cristina helped juniors find the bag they needed, and Tom Faller was on hand to identify the more difficult specimens.

Diana wire wrapped crystals and sharks’ teeth, so not only did each junior receive a special pendant, but they also got to see how it was made! While they waited for their turn, juniors enjoyed some granola bars and bananas.

Once the excitement had died down, juniors and their parents toured the GMS building to familiarize themselves with the lapidary areas, library, and section room. The sand collection on display in the section room intrigued juniors and parents alike. They were surprised to learn that they could take samples of the sand home, so they looked through the collection, made note of the collection numbers of the sands they were interested in, and then got samples from the excess sand boxes. Tom helped them examine their sand samples under a microscope too!

Many thanks to everyone involved in making this event a success! Juniors were incredibly kind and considerate with each other, making sure that everyone received a special egg and trading goodies so that everyone could go home with a variety of rocks and fossils. Let’s all do it again next year!

Lori Carter on behalf of Charles Carter
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