On-Campus Scavenger Hunt Leads Students to Prizes—and Safety Awareness
Safety, wellness, and fun. These three elements came together on the campus of Rutgers University–Camden, under a sparkling blue autumn sky, where students combined learning and information gathering with prize-winning.
Hosted by the Rutgers University Police Department (RUPD) and the Student Wellness Center, officers joined representatives from Student Wellness, athletics, and student support services in answering students’ questions and demonstrating tips and tools for personal safety. Local organizations promoting drug prevention and recovery, financial literacy, safe driving, and crime awareness challenged students to quizzes and games, which, if successfully completed, were rewarded with gift cards.
Program Coordinator Robert Chew from the Camden County Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse was giving away Starbucks gift cards worth $10 to students who stopped by his table for a chat.
“The more we can encourage young people to avoid the problems that come from abusing alcohol and drugs, the better we are as a society,” Chew said.
RUPD Sgt. Jason Ronca, a double Rutgers–Camden alumnus with an undergraduate degree in criminal justice and graduate degrees in criminal justice and public administration, serves as the campus safety officer. He also believes prevention is the best medicine.
“We want our students to know we are here for them,” Ronca said, who was a co-coordinator of the event.
“The RUPD is a positive presence on our campus; students can approach us, and we will answer questions or just say a friendly hello. Building bridges with students benefits everyone.”
Ronca corralled fellow law enforcement officials from the Camden County Sheriff’s Office and the Camden Fire Department to demonstrate their work and speak to students about how to stay safe. A representative from the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office was also present to answer questions.
One of the most dramatic demonstrations was given by Solstice Counselling and Wellness Center, based in Cherry Hill, Pemberton, and Burlington County. Rutgers–Camden alumna Helena McBride, who graduated from the Rutgers School of Business–Camden in 2019, works as an HR generalist for Solstice; however, on the day of the scavenger hunt, she commendably played the role of someone overdosing on opioids who needed to be resuscitated.
Along with her colleague, Dan Belton, a certified alcohol and drug counselor, they demonstrated to students how to administer Narcan, a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose. They also distributed the medication to students.
“This is a life-saving treatment,” Belton said. “Students who are able to administer Narcan properly can save lives.”
McBride said that after working in entrepreneurial startups following graduation, she finds her career at Solstice fulfilling because she is helping people who are not only dealing with addiction but who also may be struggling with mental health issues and trauma.
A group of nursing students who visited the Student Wellness Center table said they were impressed with the amount of information available from the various vendors. Jose Contreras, who is graduating from the School of Nursing in May, said, “It is good to see this kind of event on campus.”
Kimberley Kavanaugh, a registered nurse with the Student Wellness Center, served as a co-coordinator for the scavenger hunt. “We are happy to be meeting students today,” Kavanaugh said. “About 99 percent of our services are free, so getting that message out is important. We treat the whole person, body and mind. Each of us is more than an illness or disease.”
In the recently released 2025 Safety Matters, the annual security and fire safety report for Rutgers University, President William F. Tate IV said, “Although the vast majority of our students, faculty, staff, and visitors do not experience crime at Rutgers, the best protection against crime is an aware, informed, alert campus community that works with our highly visible and professionally trained public safety staff to keep Rutgers safe.”
For Sgt. Ronca, events like the scavenger hunt are an entertaining way to support the shared responsibility of campus safety and wellness. It is also critical, he said, to humanize the badge: “We try to find common ground with our students; that way, we gain, and keep, their trust.”
