The dedicated and hardworking staff at Northampton Borough Elementary School have organized a summer challenge that is taking place throughout Northampton.

Students are invited to help school mascots Brick and Cinder build a better borough by completing a self-paced kindness scavenger hunt that will be open until Aug. 30.

The first 10 challenges were placed around Northampton June 21, and the elementary school will be rolling out additional challenges over the next few weeks.

Participants will utilize an interactive map to seek out the scattered scavenger hunt photos with a QR code. Students will use their mobile devices to scan the QR code to reveal a secret code word from a promoted video. The 50 secret code words will come together to create a message, and students will keep track of all of them on the summer kindness challenge game board.

The prompted video will also ask the students to complete a challenge, such as eating at a local Northampton restaurant or doing an act of kindness for their neighbor. Students will get bonus points if their parent or guardian submits a photo of them completing the challenge and shares it to the school’s social media page or emails a copy to sallitr@nasdschools.org or shermand@nasdschools.org.

Once all 50 spots have been filled out, students can return their challenge sheet to the school during the summer or on the first day of school of the 2021-22 academic year. The participating students who complete the challenge will be entered into a prize raffle drawing.

The idea was brought to Principal Renee Sallit by first-grade teacher Rebecca Kelley, who had completed a QR code scavenger hunt on her own and thought this would be a fun idea for the students.

Kelley collaborated with the school’s technology coach Jamie Horvath to create a challenge that would focus on five different areas: community, business, family, neighborhood and self-care.

The scavenger hunt aims to motivate the students to be active during the summer and gain insight into supporting their local community. Sallit said this was a “major team effort,” with more than 50 staff members contributing and collaborating.

Students were sent information and supplies through the school community portal. All information and supplies can also be found on the school’s social media pages and outside of the Northampton Borough building, 1401 Laubach Ave.

Good luck to all participants!