Sunny Vuong ’27
Inspired by Willy Wonka and seeking collective fun, two students dreamed up a new fall phenomenon: a scavenger hunt with prizes so glam, they might be better than chocolate.
Veritas Search was founded by Neil Mathew ’26 and Lucas Anmolsingh ’26 in 2024 after a brainstorming session in the Pauli Murray computer room. (Pictured, left to right, are Ammolsingh, contest winner Harver Picar ’26, and Mathew.) Aiming to “instill a sense of wonder” in Yale’s beautiful campus and deep history, the Search team hides more than a dozen shiny cylindrical capsules across Yale’s grounds each fall and posts clues on its website. Sample: “Beinecke the champion and Griswold the dissenter.”
Winners have walked away with Valentine’s Day hot air balloon rides, meetings with Mark Cuban and Jodie Foster ’85, and a personal song played weekly from Harkness Tower. But most of the fun is the hunt itself, which has taken seekers from obscure corners of campus to Professor Cormac O’Dea’s 500-seat Intro to Microeconomics lecture and inspired winners to deploy alert systems, archival digging, and old-fashioned midnight bush-thrashing.
This spring, the team brought a mini version of the hunt to the Class of ’91 reunion and enjoyed it so much they’re hoping to partner with alumni again. Samuel Vargas ’29, a Veritas Search organizer, says he and his fellow Searchers are excited to bring alums “that same sense of Yale magic through shared moments,” as well as “fostering a stronger bridge between alumni and current undergraduates.”
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