Hunger Games ends in Time for the Premier
-Zach Bires
(Defiance, OH) It was not the typical Tuesday night at the George M. Smart Center (The George). It was filled with 70 brave participants, willing to participate in the long awaited real life Hunger Games.
As stated in the previous article, the Hunger Games was an event to help fight and raise awareness for hunger. Throughout the event, there were several facts about hunger, and different video, some humorous and some very serious. The YouTube hit, How Animals Eat was one of the videos, while another was a very meaningful video, showing that 1 in every 7 people around the world go to bed hungry.
The event raised $30 in donations, 100 non-perishable food items, and 57 students swiped out for hunger! That means they received about $140 to buy industrial sized food to send to the Path Center in Defiance.
The Path Center was not the only ones who benefited though, as the students had an extremely enjoyable time throughout 6 physical and mental challenging events. There were 13 teams, or districts, similar to the movie.
The first event was called Training Center, where students played the game Heads Up on the iPhone with judges to warm up and rack up points. Then they followed with a game called Race to the Cornucopia, which is what we know as dodgeball. Here, half the teams were eliminated, and several gift cards were rewarded.
The third event was Yellow Tracker Jacker where participants tried to figure out who the Tracker Jacker was before they could infect the students with their deadly venom. Only five teams advanced from this event, and went onto Lyrium, where one member was blindfolded and had to be guided only by voice through an obstacle, while other players could shout and throw small balls at them. The slowest team was eliminated.
Then, the groups had to reach their way across a minefield as fast as they could, again with the slowest team being eliminated. Finally, the tables were turned, and the participants were no longer teams, but individuals for an extreme version of Simon Says.
The game came down to two, and it was a very epic ending, when freshman Nate Principe pulled out the win, with freshman Zane Hayes finishing a close second.
Throughout the events, several prizes were given, including gift cards to local venues like Biggby Coffee, Applebee’s Bar and Grill, and Eric’s Irresistible Ice Cream.
“The second I realized that I won, I could not control myself. I ran to each of my teammates giving them a high five knowing all of our hard work payed off,” champion Nate Principe said after he won.
With both sides having benefits, this was a great event to attend, and hopefully it can become a Yellow Jacket Tradition.
