Michelle So, Contributing Photographer
Winners of the Veritas Search, a campus-wide scavenger hunt, were treated to dinner and draft-style prize selection on Nov. 15.
Taking place in the Davenport Common Room, the winners enjoyed live music by Mariachi de Yale and catering by Michelina’s and Cookie39. In a highly anticipated draft-style selection, the capsule finders picked their prizes in the order that they had found them. The most vied-for prize was having a personal tree planted with the winner’s name inscribed, made possible by the Yale College Council Events Committee and the Urban Resources Initiative.
The final winners and prizes were as follows:
- Kyle Chen ’27, Tree planting
- Joshua Li ’26, Meeting with Anderson Cooper ’89
- James Collier ’26, Personal portrait
- Aaron Velez ’27, Meeting with Dean Heather Gerken of Yale Law School
- Sunny Vuong ’27, Meeting with Dean Nancy Brown of the School of Medicine
- Rosie Hampson ’28, Dedicated Dining Hall Meal
- Samuel Vargas ’28, Meeting with entrepreneur Tom Steyer ’79
- Rishi Sankhe ’28, Meeting with actor Noah Emmerich
- Erick Trujillo ’26, Night at the Yale Club of NYC
- Chris de Santis ’25, Meeting with Jodie Foster ’85
- Gian Luca Reti ’25, Dedicated Bell Chime
- Ben Weiss ’27, Lunch with Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis at Mory’s
- Jem Burch ’25, Meeting with Allison Williams ’10
- Thomas Papavramidis ’28, Meal with Yale Investments Office
- Michael Gallup ’28, Tour of City Hall with Mayor Elicker
- Seth Thomas ’27, Meeting with businessman Sandy Cutler
At draft selection, founders reflect on search
The Veritas Search began as an idea conceived in the Pauli Murray College computer room, co-founders Neil Mathew ’26 and Lucas Anmolsingh ’26 told the News last month.
“Lucas and I had to rehide capsules, and we would be out in the middle of the night at 4 a.m. because we couldn’t afford anyone seeing us. And then there are times when we have to wake up really early to rehide capsules, and it’s such a surreal feeling walking around campus and trying not to be seen like usually it’s the opposite,” Mathew said at the dinner. “You want people to recognize you, but it [was] a very interesting experience, and one that we’ll never forget.”
Hoping to leave a memorable legacy, the pair’s original plan involved filming one-minute interviews with students and compiling the short spotlights together. They eventually scrapped the idea because “we didn’t want to be on video and we didn’t want to increase our digital footprint,” Anmolsingh joked.
It was not until their friend Yamato Takabe ’26 found a ciphered message, which he presumed was written by a Secret Society, that the pair came up with the idea of a scavenger hunt with hints.
At the event, Anmolsingh noted that during the brainstorming, there were some rejections, including entrepreneur Mark Cuban and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Regardless, they were proud to present the prizes.
The project has since taken on a life of its own. After 250+ hours of planning, over 50 pages of email drafts and the support of the alumni network, Mathew and Anmolsingh were able to pull it off.
The organizers said they hope to make the Veritas Search a biannual event.
Winners discuss search process, prize selections
The 16 prizes include a one-on-one lunch with Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis, a private tour of New Haven City Hall with Mayor Elicker and a meeting with deans of the Law School and School of Medicine.
Michael Gallup ’28 found the 15th capsule at Payne Whitney Gymnasium. His first pick prize was the tree planting.
Seth Thomas ’27 found the 16th capsule in the School of Architecture Library. A security guard happened to be around helping others into the building, and Thomas slipped in with them. “I knew, because of the clue, the exact row where to find the capsule, and I just grabbed it quickly.”
Thomas, who has always loved exploring and doing puzzles, said, “Throughout the search, I feel like I learned how big Yale’s campus truly is, just by going around to all the different buildings. And honestly, I really enjoyed it.”
His first pick was also the dedicated tree on campus.
Fifth capsule finder Sunny Vuong ’27 initially had no luck on the fourth floor of Linsly-Chittenden Hall until she “turned the corner to some random dead end that nobody goes to, and looked underneath the bench,” where she found the sought-after prize. As a pre-med, she hoped to win a dinner with Dean Nancy Brown of the School of Medicine.
Aaron Velez ’27 “brute-forced” his way toward the coveted fourth capsule, starting by the Divinity School and working his way down, ultimately coming across the capsule “under a couple bushes on some random terrace” at the Yale Science Building. His first pick prize was a one-on-one meeting with journalist Anderson Cooper ’89, but ended up with a personal meeting with Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken.
Gian Luca Reti ’25 and Angie Sanchez ’25 found the 11th capsule together. Sanchez was alerted by the clue “juvenile learning center” to a daycare where she works. Sanchez said it took some convincing to get Reti, who was working on an essay at the time, to cross the street and search with her. The pair eventually found the capsule on the terrace.
“I thought, ‘Oh, maybe Angie was right,’” Reti joked. He expressed interest in the tree prize, too, but ended up with the dedicated bell chimes to be played for six weeks on the Harkness Tower Bells, which was their second pick.
Coming from Brazil, Reti did not reveal any specifics, but said students can expect to hear music from his home country.
An experienced geocacher, Rosie Hampson ’28 discovered the sixth capsule by the School of Management and chose the dedicated dining hall dish. She’s hoping to make a cauliflower cheese pie, her mother’s favorite dish, and one that reminds her of home.
Peter Burns ’28, Thomas Papavramidis ’28 and Leif Steele ’28 headed to the MacMillan Center together, splitting up to cover three floors. While Papavramidis found the prize on the second floor, the trio claimed equal responsibility.
“It was like, ‘Dude, oh my god, oh my god!” Burns said. “We love cracking a good riddle, and I was really happy to be part of such a good time.”
Despite being 14th, Papavramidis said he hoped the tree planting would be available to them.
“We wanted to optimize our potential winning so whatever’s left at the time,” Steele said. “Considering we’re number 14, we’ll take whatever.”
Papavramidis and Steele, who are “potentially into finance” were not too upset with the Yale Investment office tour.
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