GFU Hunger Games
Illustration by Noelle Mitcham
Article by Madeline Teeter
NEWBERG, Ore. – On April 4, the George Fox University (GFU) Hunger Games began. Inspired by Suzanne Collins’ series, 26 students were chosen as tributes, who ran and fought around campus to become the victor.
“At the beginning of the year, our team watched The Hunger Games movies together,” said Erik Potter, a Pennington Hall RA. “We thought it would be cool to have a campus event based on that.”
While the idea started as a Pennington and Newlin (PenLin) event, the RAs decided it would work better if the whole campus was invited. The original goal was to have one tribute from each floor of every dorm and suite in the games, which would have been approximately 50 tributes. Given that this goal was not reached, everyone who signed up was allowed to participate.
Preparation for the event started two months in advance, such as buying Nerf guns and foam swords for all the participants and spreading the word. Potter and Ryan Brulotte, a fellow Pennington Hall RA, worked on creating the rules and figuring out the logistics. “It was definitely a group effort,” Brulotte said.
For those running the event, it was satisfying for them to see their hard work pay off. “It was really fun to see the very beginning of the games, where everyone had their own strategies,” Brulotte said. “It felt like a real Hunger Games.”
The games opened with a mad dash for the cornucopia (Centennial Tower) to grab weapons, which included Nerf guns and foam swords. Some tributes grabbed weapons and ran, some camped out at the tower to keep others away, and others avoided the tower altogether.
Tributes spread out across campus, as they were given printed maps to show them which zones were included. As the games wore on, zones would be eliminated to force people towards one another. Some tributes decided to form alliances, hoping for strength in numbers. Others employed stealth and striking from a distance.
“My original strategy was to stick with my roommate and friend,” said Anna Rubesh, a freshman from floor one of Edwards Hall. After her roommate was eliminated, Rubesh sought to join an alliance.
Rubesh was one of the four students to win the game, with her allies Angel Ayala and Tyler Lamp. Luke Wagner, who successfully hid in the canyon until the end of the games, was the other victor. A $100 prize was split between the four winners.
“It went exactly as we hoped,” Potter said. “People ended it in a really fun way. There were three main alliances and after fighting and some backstabbing, one team came out on top.”
“I honestly thought I was going to get out in the first couple of minutes,” Rubesh said. “It was a bit of a shock when we won.” Rubesh had signed up for the games in hopes of making good memories at college: “I knew it would push myself to get out there and have fun. It’s not something I would usually do.”
Rubesh was rewarded for taking that step and plans to participate in the games next year as well. “I one hundred percent will sign up again,” she said. Potter also plans to return to the games, but in a different role: “Next year I’m going to try to be a tribute.”
Given this year was the first time this event was held, Brulotte said, “It will return bigger and better next year.” He will once again help run the event and has plans to get more people involved.
Ideally, there will be more tributes and each tribute will have their own livestream for observers to watch. There are also hopes of attaining higher quality weapons and a Caesar Flickerman style host.
If this event sounds interesting to watch or participate in, keep an eye out for its return next year. The more people that are involved, the more smoothly the event can run. Additional information can be found on the GFU Hunger Games Instagram page.
