EUFAULA – On April 29, a students vs. staff basketball game took place at the Eufaula Dormitory. The eighth through twelfth-grade students battled the staff, who took home the trophy. The event featured activities, a concession stand, a traveling trophy, various prizes, resource booths, and halftime contests.
MCN Youth Wellness Program Project Director James “Major” McHenry (Mvskoke) spoke about the launch of activities at the Eufaula Dormitory, the competitions, and what it means for his program to host these games for students.
Participants included the MCN Behavioral Health Staff, MCN Youth Wellness Program, MCN Tobacco Prevention, MCN Suicide Prevention, and MCN Press Secretary Jason Salsman, as well as Eufaula Dormitory students.
The different resource booths were the Mvskoke Nation Youth Services, MCN Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, College of the Muscogee Nation, Youth Wellness Program, and Native Youth Community Project.
McHenry spoke about how this event has grown over the last three years: they have added a concession stand, an announcer, scoreboard keeping, music, and a traveling trophy that reads “Students vs. Staff Champs.”
“We’ve purchased jerseys, and now everyone has a jersey that they wear. So it’s just really growing, and the students get really excited about the game each year,” McHenry said.
McHenry frequently hears the students’ excitement for the game- they like playing against staff. McHenry knows that the students always wants to win and look forward to the game, preparing themselves with practice.
McHenry’s department is a prevention program that focuses on both mental and physical health. Activities like these help the department interact with students and, in turn, help students become familiar with their staff and learn about the department’s offerings.
“We started out just doing it toward the end of the school year a couple years ago, and then they had some of the students say we need to play again or play more than once. So we played this past December right before Christmas break, and then this game now at the end of the school year is the rematch,” McHenry said.
McHenry is happy when he sees the students get excited and glad that their program helped bring everyone together.
He can connect with students because he was a dorm student himself at Sequoyah High School in Tahlequah. When McHenry was a student, he remembers playing basketball and volleyball against the staff.
“That just brought back memories of how much it was fun. It did get me familiar with those guys who worked in the dorms and who worked at the school. Even to this day, I have relationships with them. I think it’s just good for everything, for us to get familiar with these students, who they are and as they grow. Maybe they’ll remember us in some way so that we can be a positive influence in their life,” McHenry said.
During the games at the Eufaula Dormitory, he mentions that MCN Representative Galen Cloud has always come around to play in different activities with the students. “It’s just a good fun time, we have a good time down there with those students,” McHenry said.
McHenry goes down every Wednesday as part of his program to play mushball with the students, and they also play volleyball.
McHenry says the Tobacco Program Manager, Sprint Williams, has gone down there to lift weights and play basketball with students. Williams partners with McHenry’s program to host various events for students at the Eufaula Dormitory as well.
“That’s really what it’s about is being a positive influence in these children and youth, the student’s life. Just knowing that someone’s there for them, that somebody cares, that they want to interact with them and that they want to be there for them,” McHenry said.
McHenry is very thankful that this event is starting to grow, and he hopes it will continue to grow each year.
