This year, the quarterly inter-grade Dean’s Cup competitions received a facelift to foster broader student participation and support. The freshman class won a decisive first-quarter victory with 494 points. However, school-wide effectiveness remains questionable entering the midway point of the second quarter.
The Dean’s Cup has been an Upper School tradition for the last three years. Originally founded by Upper School Principal Zach Hansen and Asst. Head for College Counseling & Student Programming Jenny Byers to create competition, unify classes and promote a sense of pride in one’s grade, the Dean’s Cup has historically involved physical competitions with sports and fun games on stage.
Beginning with the 2025-26 school year, the Upper School decided to start doing the Dean’s Cup challenges in a different way.
“The reason that we’re [changing the Dean’s Cup] is we want to solidify each grade and make them really a big support system for each other. That’s what our main goal is – to really make [all the] grades very cohesive and caring about each other each grade and make them a really big support system for each other,” said Art Instructor Laura Beck, who now organizes the Dean’s Cup.
The previous format featured only a handful of representatives from each grade. Now, the format revolves around dishing out points to students who attend certain events. Each week, scores are tallied up to see which grade is in the lead.
This way, more people show out for less attended events, allowing students to both support their peers and gain interest in new sports or activities.
“Our real goal is just to make you guys support each other. The less attended events… need support. And we want to support the arts [too], so that’s what our main goal is,” said Beck.
The competitions have not been completely scrapped.
Every semester there will be one competition during chapel; the 2nd Quarter will hold basketball games, with each grade having their own respective teams. The winner of these games will score a big bonus for their grade scores.
However, the actual impact of the Dean’s Cup has been debated. Throughout the first eight weeks of the school year, only 875 forms have been submitted. That’s only 26.93% of the entire high school participating weekly.
With the new format of the Dean Cup, more support and participation have arrived for those sports that usually don’t get as much publicity, but not a significant amount.
Ethan Vines (9), a varsity cross country athlete, has said that he has “seen a little bit of an increase of people showing up, but not a note-worthy amount.”
Hank Thompson (10), a varsity bowler, believes that the Dean’s Cup has not made bowling more popular. “Only one extra person has shown up to a bowling event this entire year.”
These low participation results caused Mrs. Beck to make attendance of lesser-known sports have double or triple points.
Despite its rocky start to improving sports attendance, the Dean’s Cup has vastly increased MUS’ service participation.
With a 12% up tick from last year at this point of time, Civic Service Organization (CSO) Advisor Jonathan Large believes that “the greatest gain is in the 9th grade.”
“Last year’s freshmen had a 64% CSO participation rate at this point in the school year; this year’s freshmen have an 88% CSO participation rate so far.” Large supports the idea that the Dean’s Cup point incentives have helped underclassmen get involved with service.
Following their victory, the entire freshman class dined on free BBQ nachos, free desserts and a dressed down for a grub day. Beck whittles down the freshman victory to both their school-wide participation and diligence in filling out the weekly forms promptly and consistently.
Beck encourages everyone to review and complete the form each week when she sends it out via email.
If you have any questions or suggestions for improving the Dean’s Cup, please contact Mrs. Beck at [email protected].
