As the normal House period didn’t happen this year, House Games can not happen either. However, there is hope for next year’s House Games.
Rex Reeder, Assistant Principal at Hayes and House Games coordinator, has announced that this year there will be no House Games due to Covid-19.
“We want to keep [students] safe and have an event that meets the needs of all students,” Reeder said. “We care about [the students]. We miss it too and we want [them] to have opportunities, but sometimes we have to be smart and keep [them] safe.”
In a normal school year, houses win points through different House competitions. The competition finishes off with House Games day at the end of the year, where the House with the most points is declared the winner of the House Cup.
“We haven’t had House all year long. The deans and the teachers don’t know everybody in their House, what games to get involved in and there’s hardly any games that meet the standard to run an event like [House Games],” Reeder said.
According to Steamtown dean Josh Lamb, if there were to be some form of House Games at this point, it would not be as spectacular as has been in previous years.
“I do not want to put something together that’s not a first-class operation,” Lamb said. “To throw something together that doesn’t have that level of meaning and thought put into it I think would be an insult to House Games in general.”
Lamb said there is an immense amount of thought and preparation that goes into House Games to make sure that it runs as smoothly as possible.
“What students don’t realize is that as deans, we start [the planning process] at about the end of February and early March…” Lamb said. “There’s a couple months of preparation on our end making sure that the events are put together. We go through all the rules, and make sure that everything is very well planned.”
After all the preparations, the last step is for the students to enjoy and have fun during House Games Day.
“I want kids to be done [with House Games] and be like ‘Man, that was really cool because it was well planned out,’” Lamb said. “The last thing we want as deans when we put one of these events on to have the event not go as we planned.”
Although students at Hayes will be missing out this year on House Games, there is still plenty to look forward to this coming school year.
With the cancellation of House Games Day last year, and the removal of House this year, House Games will be new for most of next year’s student body.
“The upcoming senior class will be the only class to ever experience House Games in the entire high school, and that is just crazy to me,” Lamb said. “I think having a group of kids to talk about what to expect will help with the sign ups and stuff like that.”
Junior Chloe Jeffers, who participated in the 2019 House Games, believes participation should increase next year. She is also looking forward to next year.
“I know next year everyone will want to do it because most people have never done it before, and [the senior class] only got to do it freshman year, so people are going to be eager to do it,” Jeffers said.
There are many events throughout the year and on House Games Day. Deans are open to hear what students are thinking in regards to adding new events to help get more students involved in house.
“Our goal is to interest as many students as we can. I can’t run just two or three outdoor events, I mean House is not built on a small group of students, it’s built on everybody,” Reeder said.
Some students who participated in House in previous years have told Reeder that they miss House.
“I hear students tell me all the time that they miss House and clubs,” Reeder said. “I get it, we will get it back. It’s coming, but again, the main reason is we have to protect you guys.”
Deans want House Games Day to be enjoyed by students and they want it to be run as smooth as possible.
“House Games brings everybody together. It’s not going to be ‘Hey, I have to keep you this far apart.’’ Kids aren’t going to enjoy that. We are just not ready yet,” Reeder said. “It’s like the Governor said: just a little more time. We’ll be there, we’re getting there. We have to be patient with it.”