NMS Celebrates ‘The Hunger Games’

By Eliza Hallabeck

Newtown Middle School students participated in their school’s version of The Hunger Games, on Friday, March 23, to celebrate the movie release.

Friday marked the heavily anticipated nationwide opening of The Hunger Games, a Lionsgate movie directed by Gary Ross and based on a young adult novel by the same title written by Sandy Hook resident Suzanne Collins. It also marked a day Newtown Middle School students in clusters 7 Orange and 7 Purple have been waiting for.

The Hunger Games is the first book in Ms Collins’ trilogy that follows main character Katniss Everdeen as she is thrown onto a path of discovering the true political structure of her country after volunteering to replace her younger sister in the Hunger Games, which pits one boy and one girl, known as “tributes,” from each of the country’s 12 districts against each other in a game played to the death. Only one can win the Hunger Games.

Catching Fire is the second book in the trilogy, and Mockingjay was the final installment.

For the fictional Hunger Games, names are drawn in a lottery format during a ceremony to name who will represent each of the districts in the government-designed fight, which is broadcast for the districts’ citizens to witness. The lottery held at Newtown Middle School had a different sort of ending.

Starting on Monday, March 19, students in the two participating clusters brought in nonperishable food items to donate to the food pantry at Town Hall South in the Social Services Department, and for each food item a student brought in, students received a ticket for the school’s drawing, which offered a number of prizes. By Friday afternoon names were pulled, and students were announced as the winners of movie tickets and literature written by Connecticut authors, like P.W. Catanese and Ms Collins.

As another part of the school’s Hunger Games/Literature Celebration students were divided into districts, like the citizens in The Hunger Games, but at NMS the districts went to battle through a trivia game and other challenges.

“The vast majority of our students have read the novels and are eager to see the movie,” said NMS 7 Purple language arts teacher Kristin Norden, noting that a Friday poll showed roughly 90 percent of the participating students had read the book.

Along with Ms Norden, 7 Orange Language Arts teacher Brooke Nucifora and library/media specialist Jeanne Bugay oversaw the events of the day.

“I like them a lot,” said seventh grader Thomas Leuci, who has read the trilogy. “They are just really interesting and they kept me in suspense.”

Thomas was also one of many students who signed a poster thanking Ms Collins for inspiring them. Ms Norden said the poster will be sent to the author.

In the cafeteria, outside, and in the school’s library/media center, students took part in multiple activities inspired by the book.

While divided into their districts, students drew on large pieces of green paper what the perfect tribute from their district would be like. From a physical description to a tribute’s weapon of choice, Ms Norden explained the students could design their district’s Hunger Games representative however they want.

In another section of the cafeteria, footage from Good Morning America’s coverage of the movie release was being shown, and on a table students made tally marks to vote for their favorite male lead in the book’s love triangle. By 1 pm, the tally marks indicated a near tie for the character Gale Hawthorne, Katniss’s longtime friend, and the character Peeta Mellark, Katniss’s fellow district tribute in the games.

Outside, NMS social studies teacher Tom DeBenedetto explained another challenge the students had to face.

“You need to choose 11 people you will send to these Hunger Games,” said Mr DeBenedetto with multiple district representatives surrounding him in a circle, “in which you will take your shoes off, put them in a pile here, then we are going to mix them up, and the district who finds their shoes first… will when a prize.”

Ms Bugay portrayed the book’s character Effie Trinket, complete with a pink wig and podium, to announce the trivia game rules for the tributes before her in the school’s library/media center.

Ms Bugay explained each district had ten questions to answer, and each had to work together as a team to answer the listed questions. Examples of some of the questions are, “What is the name of the berries that cause instant death?” and “What was the special talent that Katniss’s father possessed?”

“May the odds be in your favor,” Ms Bugay said from her podium as students began completing the trivia challenge.

Excitement surrounded the day, Ms Bugay said, adding, there was, “A lot of hunger in the air.”