Geocachers find treasures in Digby

First time geocachers from Weymouth Consolidated School logged in the coordinates in their satellite navigation units and went on an afternoon treasure hunt last week in Digby.

Six students got the chance to put into practice what they had learned at school about Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment by searching out five caches hidden by the Wood family from Digby.

The field trip was practical experience in preparation for the geocaching at their school as part of Earth Day events.

Devon Mullen found the group's first Digby cache, the Courier cache, and signed the logbook.

"I just looked down around where the coordinates pointed and there it was," said Mullen. "Everyone was trying to be the first to find the cache and it was exciting."

Students took a ‘treasure’ from each cache and replaced it with one of their own.

The group also signed the logbook at each cache with their new username. WCSGr5.

"We have our own cache near our school," said Mullen. "It will be fun to see if anyone finds it."

Darcy Tucker, another budding geocacher on the field trip, found the whole experience exciting.

"We got to learn how to use a GPS and it was fun finding the caches in Digby," said Tucker. "We will be able to find the Earth Day cache at our school."

The newly formed environment club at WCS learned how to use a GPS unit to take part in Earth Day events on April 22.

To add an element of fun and excitement to the cleanup efforts on Earth Day, most of the environment club members also incorporated a geocaching activity called CITO (Cache in Trash out) into the day's activities.

Tri-County Regional School Board commended the students for taking an active approach to help keep their environment clean, healthy, and safe for everyone to enjoy.