When a major tragedy occurs, it’s common to remember the exact spot you were standing, what you were doing, and who you were with. This phenomenon is true in the case of Hellgate Junior Class President Gus Darty. When Hellgate devastatingly lost last year’s Golden Goat spirit competition, Darty remembers exactly where he was: on the basketball court of the Adams center surrounded by his stunned and silent peers as Sentinel lifted Gertie high. He remembers the feelings of shock, and the realization that next year there would be no Goat week at Hellgate High School. And while some would sit back and do nothing, in that moment, Darty decided to make a change.
“I wanted to create a competition that we could do in our school that could be sort of a spirit competition to replace Goat,” said Darty, 17. The competition, known as the Class Cup, will be a week-long, point-based spirit competition between all four grade levels. Classes will have multiple opportunities to earn points for their year throughout the week, including a basketball game, a pie eating contest, and assembly games.
Points will be awarded based on spirit by class, and measured through participation in the week’s events by a panel of five faculty judges. “Some people that we wanted as judges are not available,” said Darty. “I’m still shooting out emails.” The judges will award points based on a grading rubric that’s still in development, but Darty said that “the majority” of points will be handed out at the Friday assembly.
Across the five days, we’ll see past events, such as Freezin’ for a Reason on Wednesday, where students donate to see their favorite peers or teachers do a cold plunge. “Whichever class donates the most will gain points, spirit wise,” said Darty. We’ll also see new events, like a pie eating contest on Thursday, which Darty said he’s particularly excited about. Additionally, in order to emulate Goat week, attendance and spirit at Tuesday’s cross town double-header basketball game against Big Sky will be tracked, and the class with the best attendance will earn points.
The main event of the week, however, will be the school-wide assembly on Friday between fifth and sixth period, which Darty is calling the ‘Hellgate High School Class Cup Tournament of Champions’. During the assembly, we’ll see a dodgeball tournament as well as shopping cart jousting. Darty said that shopping cart jousting “was a thing at Hellgate around half a decade ago,” but was discontinued because of injuries and damage to the gym. “It was a little too rough,” said Darty. To remedy this, participants will wear t-shirts with targets on them and carry chalk covered pool noodles with the intention to hit their opponent as close to the bullseye as possible. There’s also rumors about custom shopping carts being welded by our very own sophomore student officers.
Darty said it’s been a really cool experience to introduce a new Hellgate tradition. “I’m definitely not doing this alone, but I am heading this idea and sort of making it my own in a lot of ways,” he said. “It came from me… but all the wonderful people in student government are helping me make it happen.”
“There will also be a big trophy. So if you want to be cemented in the history books as the first winners of the Hellgate High School Class Cup, you better show out,” said Darty.
Darty confirmed that the Class Cup will be a yearly tradition, even in years with the Golden Goat game. The timing may be different, but he said it will still be a fun way for Knights to build hype and show off their spirit. Hellgate students can look forward to this creative new tradition all week and in years to come.
