Children on the hunt

Growing up an Alabama fan, Brady Jowers finally got to visit the university he hopes to attend in six years.

The seventh grader from Opp walked around campus for the first time Sunday afternoon with his family, taking in the highlights of the Capstone: Bryant-Denny Stadium, Denny Chimes, the President's Mansion and the Easter Bunny standing on the lawn.

Jowers not only got to see the campus, but he, his brother and his cousin were able to run around the President's Mansion's front lawn searching for eggs at the Junior Panhellenic's Easter Egg Hunt.

The hunt is an annual event hosted by the Junior Panhellenic, said Collier Broadaway, the Panhellenic director of education.

"It's a good way to get the community involved," Broadaway said. "It brings parents and children [to the University] during the spring."

Gayle Davis, a mother who brought her two children to hunt for eggs, said she and her family love hiding Easter eggs.

"With Easter so early this year, it gets [the children] in the spirit," she said.

Her daughter Collett, 7, said she enjoyed finding Easter eggs.

"I like to find stuff hidden," she said, "but I really like to find the candy inside."

Junior Panhellenic delegates collected the candy and the eggs for the children to find. The 30 delegates - two freshmen from each Panhellenic organization - asked members of their pledge class to bring eggs and candy and to help stuff eggs, Broadaway said.

Some of the delegates said they thought it was a good idea and a great activity for children.

"The President's Mansion was the perfect place to have the Easter egg hunt," delegate Meg King said. "It is at the heart of the University and, as Junior Panhellenic, we are also working at the heart of the University."

As one 9-year-old ran around looking his favorite type of eggs - the ones in the shape of dinosaurs - his father said he was glad they had the opportunity to come to the President's Mansion because it is often seen as just a building, and people don't realize that UA President Robert Witt lives there.

The location wasn't what the almost 40 children who attended were interested in, though; they cared about the candy.

"I am going to get fat eating all my candy," Ryan Tomlinson, 10, said.

His sister Kaylyn, 6, said she also liked the candy.

"I like finding the eggs in the shade because that's where they hide the ones with the chocolate in them," she said.

The ground was littered with eggs, but they were not all easy to find, Nicholas Davis, 9, said.

"Sometimes when [the eggs] are hidden in the bushes, they are kind of hard to find," he said.

As Marcia Holland watched her grandson Jackson, 2, search the ground for the eggs, she said she enjoyed seeing him at his first Easter egg hunt.

His father, Joseph Holland, a junior at the Capstone, said he was glad he found out about the Easter egg hunt, because it was a good event to bring his son to.

They watched Jackson, a blooming Alabama fan, run around the lawn looking for eggs as he hollered back to them, "I got to see the Easter Bunny!"