Dutch Fork Holds "Hunger Games" Food Drive for Harvest Hope

Dutch Fork High School students are using the popularity of a top-selling novel series to help collect food for needy families.

Student council’s Hunger Games food drive, which ends in May, has already collected dozens of canned goods for Harvest Hope.

Earlier this month, students participated in a game of capture the flag as part of the food drive. Taking cues from the popular novel and movie, students’ names were entered into a drawing and selected for the competition.

In the school’s version of the Hunger Games, students donated canned goods or nonperishable items to be entered in the drawing and teachers used takeaways from the game to incorporate in English and other coursework. 

Two teachers and 24 students — two per “district” — competed in the capture the flag game while hundreds of students cheered on their favorite team. In the end, the Junior Class team of Austin Thompson and Derek Olenchuk prevailed and were awarded a sizable trophy.

“They’re having fun, but there are many lessons in the activity too, including team work and selfless service," said Laurie Humphrey, a social studies teacher and advisor for the schools’ student government. "This will also probably get some of the students that didn’t read the book, interested in reading it.” 

Rachel McAfee, student body vice president and event organizer, said: “It exceeded my expectations. It was a lot of fun for the students … and sets the standard for more events to come.” 

Submitted by Lexington-Richland 5's Office of Public Information