House Hunger Games

          On April 20, students from various Circle and Crescent Houses gathered to meet in the Kirby Arts Center (KAC) to prepare for the return of the House Hunger Games. Though the KAC is usually the place to announce new school-wide initiatives and athletics updates, audience members were instead issued instructions for the game, modeled after the popular book series written by Suzanne Collins.

          Vice President of Social Life Grace Chu ’24 opted to mold the House Hunger Games into a modified version of Capture the Flag. House representatives sought to score the highest amount of points by capturing other Houses’ glowing beacons. They could also win 3 points by finding the Golden Easter Egg that was hidden somewhere in the arena, which consisted of the Bowl, the Noyes Quad, and the Circle. In the end, the Woodhull House reigned victorious  after successfully capturing four beacons. 

          Since last fall, hosting the House Hunger Games has been one of Chu’s main goals. “When I was running to be VP of Social Life, one of the ideas on my platform was to host a big house points event at the end of the year, like a Spring House Olympics,” Chu began. 

However, upon watching a video of the House Hunger Games that had previously been held at Lawrenceville, Chu became inspired to bring back the Games. Working alongside Director of Student Life Ian August, Chu organized the Games and planned  the rules and necessary supplies for the event. Chu additionally reached out to House Presidents and Social Representatives in order to garner  student sign ups.

          Reflecting on the event, Chu felt that the Games were a huge success and thoroughly enjoyed watching the events play out. “The Games definitely got a bit chaotic, but even then, it was a good kind of chaos,” Chu continued. 

          However, if Chu had the opportunity to redo the Games, she would have simplified the rules and taken greater measures to ensure that they were enforced during the event, as she observed that “there definitely was some struggle with rule-following…[and] at some point I think that the rules themselves became lost, which made the Games disorganized,” she explained. 

          In spite of the obstacles that Chu faced in both organizing and executing the Games, she found planning the event to be an extremely rewarding experience. “I just really enjoyed being able to host an event that [has] never really happened before and getting to see Lawrentians have fun on a Saturday night,” Chu concluded. 

           Many participants, even those who weren’t hunters, expressed their satisfaction. “The House Hunger Games was a great Saturday night event and something that’s not typically done,” explained Wallis Cornell ’26, a camerawoman following the hunters who were trying to capture beacons. “It was a great way to incorporate exercise with fun,” Cornell continued, as she found herself exhausted by the end of the night from running to record footage. Although she enjoyed the event, she wished that communication was more clear between all of the participants to avoid the chaos of offenders and defenders running around with no rules. 

           House members who were not involved in hunting, defending, or recording eagerly watched the livestream projected in the KAC which consisted of the footage collected from the cameramen. . Emily Lee ’26, a spectator and member of the Kirby House, eagerly watched her house hunters on the big screen. “Although [Kirby] didn’t win, it was fun watching and supporting them,” she said. Lee, among others, watched the events unfold from 11 different viewpoints, each cameraman following a separate House. “It was cool to see all the different perspectives, and I hope that new VP of Social Life Tenji Sithole ’25 will bring the event back next year,” she concluded.