The Goeller Cup
The Goeller Cup (pronounced "Goal-er")is the trophy given to the winning class at the end of the year and the last class remaining in Monsieur Bracken’s Goeller Cup Playoffs. The cup was created in 2019 for the conclusion of the 2018-2019 school year and is named for Mr. Bracken's co-teacher during his teaching internship at Penn State. Mr. Bracken worked with a French teacher named Madame Brogan Goeller. She was his mentor teacher during his final semester of college teacher training and thus is why this trophy bears the name "Goeller." The last class to win it, and only class to ever officially be awarded the Cup, was Mr. Bracken's 2018-19 French I Period 1 class.
What is it?
The Goeller Cup is the Championship Trophy awarded to Mr. Bracken's winning class in his annual class competition. Over the year, students earn (and lose) points via Class Dojo for various activities like speaking in French, participating, following directions, and more! Throughout the first three marking periods students compete solely on points. At the end of each grading term, the class with the most points is awarded a Victory point. Classes are ranked by Victory Points then by points in the Class Standings. In April, usually after the conclusion of a short fourth point-based competition, classes are seeded for the Goeller Cup Playoffs based on their standings.
Playoffs are 1v1 matchups where each class has a specific opponent in a single elimination bracket style tournament. In the playoffs there are 5 points categories: total points, average point per student, positive point percentage, percentage for speaking in French, and highest student. In order to advance to the next round, a class has to win three of the five categories. The class that wins all of their rounds, effectively becoming the last class alive, is awarded the Goeller Cup. The class will pose for a picture with the cup and students may take individual pictures with it, too. The winning class will also sign a commemorative plaque and have their names marked in history on the class Champions Banner which will hang in Mr. Bracken's room until he retires. The MVP (or MVPs) are awarded the Helmerich Award.
Origins & 2017 Class Dojo Playoffs
The idea for a competitive ClassDojo series was born during Mr. Bracken's student-teaching semester. He was using Class Dojo with Madame Goeller's classes and he wanted to reinvigorate them again. So, he created the first Class Dojo Playoffs. There were six groups of students who were part of this inaugural series.
2017 - State College Area High School and Mount Nittany Middle School
There were two classifications, the middle school section, and the high school section (because Mr. Bracken worked in two different schools). State College High School Block 8, a class of French I students, won the first championship against the underdogs from Mount Nittany Middle School, Period 3, a class of eighth-grade students who were studying French at the introductory level. Period 3 was the last ranked team but they won their first-round series 3-2 against period 4. In the second round, Period 3 defeated period 1 (a class of 7th graders) to advance to the final. Block 8 won their series by a score of 4 to 1 versus Block 4 at the high school, their French level 1 opponent. In the final, period 3 was not able to overcome the challenge posed by the high school students and so they lost the final 3-2. Block 8 became the first ClassDojo Champions in Monsieur Bracken’s class history.
MILLBROOK HIGH SCHOOL
2018
There was no use of ClassDojo during Mr. Bracken’s first year and so, retroactively, Mr. Bracken dedicated the 2017-2018 school year to all of the teachers who helped him get started at Millbrook.
2019
The Goeller Cup was first presented at the conclusion of the 2019 Goeller Cup Finals powered by Class Dojo. The 2019 Playoffs saw a battle between period 5 (a French II course) and period 1 (a French I course). Period 1 won the final series and became the first class in history to be awarded the Goeller Cup as Champions of the Class Dojo Playoffs. The 1st-period class was so resilient in the playoffs; they entered the first round of the playoffs ranked number 6 out of 6 total classes. In the first round, Period 1 defeated Period 2, a small class of students in French IV, by a score of 3 to 2. In the second round, they faced a class of students in French III: Period 7, who had a first-round bye thanks to ranking 2nd in the standings. In the second round, Period 1 won the series 4-1 to advance to the Goeller Cup Final. Their opponent was the top-seed class, Period 5, who arrived in the Finals by winning their semi-final round 3 to 2 against period 3. In the final, Period 1 scored wins in 3 of the 5 categories to take the series and the championship. It was a true underdog story with a Cinderella ending. Emily A., a sophomore student, was named class MVP of the Playoffs.
2020, 2021
The race for the 2020 playoffs was very competitive. Unfortunately, the regular season was never completed due to school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Champions banner that would have been created at the end of this school year instead bears the names of every student from Mr. Bracken’s 2019-2020 rosters with the date March 13, 2020 at the bottom, indicative of the last day of school that year. Due to the changes and adaptations made for the 2020-2021 school year, the Goeller Cup Playoffs were suspended. The 2021 Goeller Cup was named in honor of all Millbrook High School Faculty and Staff members who had to change and adapt to a hybrid model of in-person and virtual learning in addition to the four-day school week to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. To mark the impacts of these two school years, the plaques for these years on the Cup read as follows (translated from French below):
2020 School Year
Schools closed due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic
Honorable Champions 2021
The Playoffs were not completed due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. To recognize the sacrifices and difficulties faced by all educational professionals, this plaque salutes all Teachers and Administrators of Millbrook High.
2022
The Goeller Cup Playoffs were officially back for the 2021-2022 school year. In addition, the MVP award returned, and, for the first time in history, has an official name: The Helmerich Award. This MVP award is named after the other French teacher at Mount Nittany Middle School during Mr. Bracken's student teaching semester. Although he did not directly work with her, Mr. Bracken recognizes the important role played by all teachers at MNMS and State College Area School District in his educator training. By naming this award after Mrs. Kristina Helmerich, it pays tribute to her influence and assistance during his time at Mount Nittany Middle.
2021-2022 marked the first year that each class had a “team name” and logo (versus 2019 when the logos were all the same with different period numbers). The “regular season” was broken down into four segments: the first three equal to the length of the first three marking periods, and the fourth as a short sprint of two weeks before spring break. French I Period 5 ("The 5 Gallic Chickens") won the first quarter contest, with 751 points. The second quarter was taken by French II Period 1 ("The Macarons") with 1021 points, just 7 ahead of second-place French III-IV Period 6 ("The Triumphants"). In the third quarter, French III-IV Period 6 was able to get a decisive victory which came down to the wire on the last day of the marking period. They managed to earn 1286 points for their first win of the year and they leaped into first place in the season standings. The short 4th quarter contest before the Playoffs was a historic round that featured the first-ever tie between classes. French III-IV Period 7 ("The Lightning") and French I Period 8 ("The Oysters") tied with 490 points. The tiebreaker was the least amount of points taken away, which gave the victory to Period 7; their first of the year. The victory propelled them into 4th place in the standings.
LAS VEGAS HIGH SCHOOL
Starting in the 2022-2023 school year, Monsieur Bracken and the Goeller Cup Playoffs will be heading west to a new home: Las Vegas High School in Clark County, Nevada!