Last year, Camas High School (CHS) was well known for the racism allegations that originated from various athletic events. However, this year the new administration is attempting to stop the incidents before they happen.

“It’s been better already, however I just think they could do a little bit more,” said senior Luke Tupper.

Recently the new athletic director, Mr. Baranowski, visited the majority of CHS’ fall sports and the advisory class periods. Baranowski and the other administrators are planning on stopping by to talk to all athletes before their first competition to promote a more positive culture surrounding Camas athletics. The acronym “HEART” was refurbished to show Camas stands for Honor, Excellence, Accountability, Respect, and Trust.

“The HEART acronym is core values established by the athletic program seven or eight years ago,” said Baranowski. Because of Covid, the athletic program put this acronym out of play. This year, the HEART acronym is back to show the core values of Camas High School athletics and enforce the Camas community values.

As well as the acronym being pulled back into Camas athletics, Baranowski is making sure the acronym is shown to all coaches and staff at Camas to prevent any more incidents. “We invited all our coaches to have a conversation about how we establish those core values, because I think if we do that work of establishing our core values that gets ahead of things like that potentially happening,” Baranowski said.

In the meeting, the staff talked about HEART’s importance, as well as the idea of being an upstander. “To reinforce with our coaches and our players this idea that we can interrupt conversations that shouldn’t be happening,” said Baranowski.

It is unclear yet if the HEART acronyms’ reemergence has done anything to quell the spewing of racist incidents at sports events, but it is believed that it could do a lot of good.

“We know we don’t see everything, so am I negligent to say that nothing’s happening? No. But I think we’re off to a really good start,” said Baranowski.

Sophomore Madison Ganne said, “I do think it’s a good thing but I think it’s only gonna be a good thing if they reinforce it.”

“It might not be amazing because they do the acronym things all the time and people just keep going on,” said sophomore Connor Loftsgaarden.

Despite the doubts of some students, the ideas behind HEART could really reimagine Camas athletics. “I hope it defines us,” said Baranowski. “I hope when people look at Camas athletics they will know what HEART is and can tell you how it’s shown.”