Hoboken High School’s first annual “Hunger Games” concluded with a surprising victory by an underdog team of eighth grade students. If you’ve never heard of a school holding a “Hunger Games” before it’s because not many have. The competition was the brainchild of Michelle McGrievy, Hoboken High School’s library media specialist and recent Teacher of the Year recipient.
“The Hunger Games Trilogy” by Suzanne Collins has induced a teen frenzy reminiscent of the “Twilight” and “Harry Potter” series. Last weekend, the much buzzed about motion picture based on the first book was released to a huge opening weekend.
The story takes place in a dystopian future where North America has been divided into twelve districts. Annually each district is required to send one teenage boy and girl to the wealthy metropolis called “The Capitol” where absolute authority dominates. These teenagers are forced to compete in the “Hunger Games,” a televised gladiatorial battle for the entertainment of wealthy patrons. The protagonist, 16-year old Katniss Everdeen, volunteers to compete in order to save her chosen sister.
After reading the novel on the recommendation of a fellow teacher, McGrievy knew she had a good opportunity to encourage reading amongst her students.
“It’s always a goal of mine to get kids reading,” she said. “Teenagers today have lots of distractions and not enough of them are spending time reading for pleasure.”
In the spirit of the novel, the first school-wide “Hunger Games” competition was birthed. A game commitee of teachers was formed and they quickly settled on three challenges.
“We decided that the challenges should be set up so that no student was excluded due to physical impairment,” she said. “That was our first goal. We wanted to have them challenged intellectually, to use their creativity, and because the books are so physical and what happened to the characters, we would have some sort of physical challenge that they would have to complete.”
The challenges
The first challenge was to design a poster with photos of their team members and explain what their team’s attributes were and why it gave them an edge in the competition. The students then went around to faculty members and collected sponsorships. The sponsorship showed that a teacher supported those students to win the “Hunger Games.” Teams competed to earn the favor of particular faculty members.
“Teachers set their own challenges. Many students went up to the same teacher and asked for a sponsorship. The teacher would say, ‘Well alright, I’ll give my sponsorship to the first student who can name five past presidents of Hoboken High School or to the first student who can bring the vice principal into my classroom to read a Shakespearean sonnet with feeling.’ That was my favorite.”
The first challenge was won by Team District 14, comprised of students Alex Yoon-Hendricks, Leslie Markevitch, Chris Velez, and John Fitzgerald. Their self-created district’s attribute was arts and entertainment, and they created an elaborate poster complete with a cloth curtain resembling the Debaun Auditorium stage.
The second challenge was trivia. A game show inspired event was held in the auditorium and some teachers brought their students as audience and to cheer on their friends. The teams were provided with clickers and asked to buzz in when they knew the response to a question. Judges monitored to see who responded first. Points were awarded for correct answers. If a student buzzed in before hearing the full question and couldn’t provide a correct answer points were deducted.
School psychologist Cecilia D’Elia emceed the challenge and helped create many of the questions.
“As readers, the kids were very detail oriented,” she said. “We asked a lot of really tough questions that required a thorough reading of the book.” Once again District 14 came out on top, inching closer to the coveted championship.
The third and final challenge was a physical challenge. One member of each team had to work their way through an obstacle course, blindfolded, while their teammates yelled out to guide them. After navigating the maze, a “cornucopia” of items was scattered on the ground and the teams had to try and collect as many as possible. Points were then awarded based on the items they had collected and how useful those items may have been to the characters in the book.
Team District 9 – made up of students Jared Bracero, Nashaly Rivera, Franchesca Pagan, and Isaiah Santiago –met the challenge. Much to their surprise they earned enough points to win the entire competition.
“I was surprised looking at the other teams,” Franchesca said. “In the first and second challenge we weren’t the best. We were closer to last, then first. So when they announced the third and second place teams I thought, ‘Oh we lost’ then, but then they called our names and I screamed.”
At a pizza party awards ceremony, each competitor was given a plaque for their lockers that said, “I survived the ‘Hunger Games’,” and a bookmark. The top three teams received passes for unlimited lunch time library use. First place winners were awarded McGrievy’s famous homemade chocolate chip cookies; hand-made, flame design book bags to represent Katniss’ home district; and eight passes for the “Hunger Games” movie, donated by Hoboken Clearview Cinema. Would the members of the Team District 9 be seeing the movie together?
“Of course!” they replied in unison.
McGrievy’s hard work and effort in organizing the school-wide event earned her recognition as Hoboken High School Teacher of the Year.
“The ‘Hunger Games’ are a prime example of what she does for the school,” history teacher Chris Munoz said. “Teachers were energized about it, the students, it was amazing to see everyone so involved. The ‘Hunger Games’ never would have happened without Ms. McGrievy. This was from Michelle’s mind. It was her vision and we’re just lucky she shared her vision and allowed us to help her realize it.”