New house system implemented in Manchester Jr/Sr High School
Manchester Jr/Sr High School
submitted by Ioli Nikoletta Papadopoulou, Manchester High School senior
Since the beginning of the school year, Manchester Junior and Senior High School has implemented a new system to give students more opportunities to collaborate and connect. This new system is the new house system. Since August, the students in the school have been split into four big groups. Each group contains people from different grades and with different interests, and has been given a Latin name based on the four core values of our school. The names of the houses are Gaudium (joy), Lumen (light), Amor (love), and Veritas (truth).
The houses meet every other Thursday, and in every meeting, they are tasked with organizing or partaking in different activities like fundraising for the Community Resource Center, bingo, float building, and others. For all these activities, the winning house ends up receiving points that are added to their total, which will later determine the winning house/winner at the end of the school year. Additionally, every house wins points when the student members partake in sports and clubs, have good attendance, and get good grades. In this way, students get more involved in the school community, create connections with other students, and compete for the grand prize that will be awarded at the end of the school year to the house with the most points.
The last house meeting that took place on February 19 was organized by the alliance club and had as its goal to provide a fun and engaging experience for students with different interests. The members had the chance to sign up for activities, including trivia, newspaper tower building, the creation of a portrait of high school principal, Mr. Lindeman with alternative materials, and origami creations.
These competitions turned into small battles with a lot of laughter and creativity floating in the gym air. At the end of the day and after collecting all the points, the winner seemed to be Gaudium. The Alliance House day turned out to be a big success.
Asking Mr. Lindeman how he came up with the house system idea and what his goal was with this project, he explained that the exact idea was derived from methods that private prep schools in the northeast used in the past. He said that his goal is to connect people and teach students how to serve their community. He thinks that everybody grows through being part of a team and he aimed to create teams where everyone is involved.
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