The atmosphere was intense. All were hoping that all the work they put in didn’t go to waste.

But at 10:51 p.m. their entire dorm was celebrating as they were the team to finally bring home with the medallion.

The clue Thursday night said “Even though he doesn’t have a building named after him, as the ones before him, he still has a special place on campus. It’s off the road less traveled and the light continues to shine on what you seek. When you view from above, your prize can be found on the President’s staff.”

Bay City junior Tiffany Kostus, left, Bay City junior Alecia Koczenasz, center, and Royal Oak senior Hallie Griffin use their phones to text friends for extra brainpower and check for Twitter updates in their search for the Medallion Wednesday night near Park Library. (Libby March/Staff Photographer)

“After the clue came out one of our ideas was to go to Abel Court,” Okemos junior Kevin Conlon said. “We looked at a map and realized Abel was a president that didn’t have a building named after him and he came after the other presidents that did.”

The president’s staff refers to Abel Court, which when viewed from above looks like a staff. Abel was CMU’s president in 1975. Abel Court is located off of Dennison Drive which is off of West Campus Drive. The team utilized Google Earth and campus maps to get a view from above that revealed the “presidents staff.”

“A lot of cars turned left onto Ellis Place so we thought we were going to the wrong place,” Conlon said. “We kept going and we realized that Abel was on our right so we turned onto that. We were the first ones there and I slammed on the breaks and we got out.”

After several minutes of wandering he stumbled upon a gray circle resembling the medallion featured in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” He immediately called his roommate and Larzelere co-coordinator Kyle Smith.

“There was all this sand there and I remembered all the sand from the movie and from the first clue,” Conlon said. “Kyle got there and I reached into the sand and it was maybe two inches down. I reached in and found something and it was the bag holding that holds the medallion. Then everyone went nuts.”

Conlon and Smith returned back to Larzelere to a group of chanting and clapping Larzy residents and an enormous celebration ensued.

“We found it,” Smith said. “It’s a thrilling relief. It validates all the work we put in. To be right there and to see it being pulled out was exhilarating.”

For Holland Freshman Christian Genesky the medallion hunt will be an experience he won’t soon forget.

“It was a blast,” Genesky said. “I didn’t think I’d be that into it until I sat down and found these people that were having so much fun with it and I just got addicted.”

He said that the medallion hunt taught him a lot about the history of CMU and gave him an opportunity to make new friends in the hall.

“The main hunters weren’t really people that I hang out with but the medallion hunt really brought me closer to them. It was really fun,” he said. “I will absolutely participate next year.”

After five days of searching the Larzelere Hall Council team has won the sixth annual Homecoming Medallion Hunt securing them 25 points in the Maroon Cup standings, a $200 pizza party, and a year’s worth of bragging rights.

On this Wednesday night the clue lead hunters to Bush Theatre outside of Moore Hall.

“The clue was easy,” Kyle Smith said. “Everyone got that one.”

The clue that Indiana Jones said to a large group of people was “The key lies in the president staff. Unlike Indy, you have twice as much information as I did.”

After four nights of hunting Smith and the rest of his team are very confused and frustrated about the clues released so far.

“No one knows where it is. No one knows that the president staff means. It wasn’t a very good night. It wasn’t a very good clue. It didn’t really advance anything for us. It’s as
fruitless as ever,” Smith said.

The team that finds the medallion receives a $200 gift certificate from Papa John’s pizza, 25 points toward their organization’s involvement in the Maroon Cup spirit trophy and bragging rights.

Though the 25 points for finding the Medallion isn’t worth anymore than any other event, it gives students the biggest thrills and biggest headaches of any Homecoming activity.

“The points are really secondary and so is the Pizza,” Smith said. “It’s just the thrill of being the only one out of the thousands of people looking to find it. It’s about the bragging rights.”

The Larzelere team remains discouraged but not defeated after four nights of clues and countless hours spent searching. For now they will just have to see what the next clue holds and what the next night of hunting brings.

“It’s back to the drawing board again,” Smith said. “We’ll sit and watch the movies again and go over the clues again. We won’t ever give up.”

The clue said “running through the jungle is where you will find me tonight. All great adventurers went WEST and so shall you. Stay close to the path and you will find me…”

For the first time the Larzelere Hall Council team was not one of the first groups to meet Indy. They arrived to a swarm of medallion hunters trying to get the next clue. On this cold and rainy night Indy was stationed near the woods on West Campus Drive.

“It was a relatively easy clue tonight,” Larzelere team member Joe Marr said. “Along with everyone else we got there in a couple minutes.”

Their team is doing whatever it takes to find the medallion, no matter what mother nature has to say about it.

“It was hard to hear Indy with the rain and everyone talking at the same time and all the cars going by,” Larzelere co-coordinator Kyle Smith said. “For tonight’s clue he recited Morse code. It took us several tries to write it down.”

After the code was deciphered it came out to the word “Anspach,” which presumably refers to either Anspach Hall or former CMU President Charles Anspach.

The medallion remains safely hidden for now and has left team Larzelere scratching their heads at home base Tuesday night. Tomorrow night there will be another clue and another chance for Team Larzy to solve the mystery of the medallion.

The Larzelere Hall Council team is doing all they can to make sure they are the ones who find it.

The first clue was released on the medallion hunt website at approximately 10 p.m. The clue read “It’s time to come home. Indy & Mrs. Margo will be waiting for you. Shhh….be quiet we don’t want to wake Mr. Judson.”

Larzelere team co-coordinator Kyle Smith said that they lucked into finding Indiana Jones at the Carlin Alumni House 10 minutes after the clue was released.

“We were the second team there,” Smith said. “We actually just happened to see his light when we were patrolling north campus. Sometimes being lucky is just as valuable as being smart.”

The Larzelere team strategy is to have all areas of campus patrolled by cars before the clue is posted. Back at Larzelere Hall team members are stationed at the “home base” on computers, constantly refreshing the page and checking the Twitter site in anticipation for clues.

As soon as the clue is posted texts go out to each stationed vehicle from the home base. Then research on the computers begins with each team member trying to makes sense of the obscure clues. Home base is a very intense and serious place to be at 10 p.m. when the clue is released.

“Larzelere is the best team because we have a cohesive system,” devoted medallion hunter and Caledonia sophomore Kevin Terpstra said. “Our sense of community is greater than any other hall. Everyone knows everyone.”

Smith said the second clue of the night that was given to him from Indy said “The light will mark what you see. 43.57 16E.”

After the second clue was received teams were sent out in search of the medallion. Some of the searches were meticulously thought out, while some sent hunters on a wild goose chase.

“We headed south because we thought of the softball field Margo Jonker Stadium but that turned out to be nothing,” Smith said. “We have no clue actually. It’s baffling. We are going to work on it and come back tomorrow night ready to hunt.”

Since 2003′s theme of “The Hunt for the President’s Jewel” the hunt has been challenging students with deciphering numeric codes, solving riddles and uncovering clues. Starting the Sunday before Homecoming for the past six years, a new clue is revealed every night at 10 p.m until the medallion is found.

The Larzelere Hall Council team is going to do all they can to find the medallion with the ultimate goal being to bring home the Maroon Cup.

Team co-coordinator Kyle Smith said the first clue was revealed after the RSO mystery event that took place at 6 p.m. The event was a “Family Feud” style game played between RSO teams.

At 10:15 p.m. the first clue was made available to the public on the Medallion Hunt website.

“The clue is numbers and jumbles,” the Dewitt junior said. “It’s a mess. There’s Morse code, a symbol, and a series of numbers that is hard to understand.”

The first clue was deciphered by Tecumseh junior Joe Marr.

“I Googled Morse code translator online and pulled up the clue and typed it in and read what it said,” Marr said. “The clue read ‘Hole 12 W 10 p.m.’ and that lead us to the disc golf course.”

The clue meant that the next clue would be given at hole 12 on the disc golf course at 10 p.m. The symbol on the clue was meant to resemble a disc golf target.

Kyle Smith made sure there was a team of people on the course early.

“Indiana Jones showed up at 10 p.m. and we were the first ones there,” Smith said. “We got there at 9 p.m. and waited there for an hour. A group of about 75 people were there when Indy showed up.”

In sync with the Homecoming theme “The Adventure Continues,” all of the clues are to be delivered by Indiana Jones.

Smith said all that Indiana Jones said was ‘the president is key 3950L.’ The group from Larzelere has their theories about the meaning of the clue, but can’t be certain about anything yet.

“We’re stuck,” Smith said. We are going to try again tomorrow. We will send a team out before the clue is out and have people ready to go. We will have constant researchers on the website refreshing the page. We have a good group.”