little girls dream of entering the valley . . .
the valley is an elite institution of middle & higher education targeted towards the young women of the capitol, envisioned to build & groom girls into picture - perfect stylists, architects & ultimately escorts for the hunger games. while boys of the higher classes saw the academy & university as opportunities to join the making of the hunger games, young girls were taught to aspire to an early acceptance into the valley & spend the majority of their youth perfecting their visuals, skills & behavior in hopes of one day becoming escorts.
classes include a variety of skills that should make up for a perfect piece of the games — from fashion & interior design, as aesthetic refinement is of great importance, to modelling, public speaking & etiquette. history classes are repetitive & make sure to remind them, every single day, of the importance of the hunger games. alumni of the valley are expected to engage in four years of middle education, & two years of targeted studies in either fashion or architecture. to successfully apply to the position of an escort, two additional years of studies focused on team management & marketing are required.
. . . and walking out as ladies .
valley girls are known to be the shallowest of capitolites; they are social alpinists with greater care for looks than brains or feelings, aesthetically exaggerated versions of every trend, & altogether perfect products that barely resemble a real woman at times. every single girl in the capitol has dreamed of being one of them at some point, & only the fittest managed to make it out of those trying six years with a certificate. effie was no different. she loved the people, the networking of it all, loved the parties that happened at night & the classes in daytime, loved thinking that one day all of that would be useful.
none of it felt shallow at the time. none of it felt like brainwashing at the time. how could it, wrapped in the finest silks there are?