Going to high school is a big change for everyone. With new classes, new teachers and a new school, it can feel overwhelming at times. Principal Rex Reeder helped smooth this change by instituting a new period at the end of the day in 2016 called House.
There are eight Houses, named after the old schoolhouses in Delaware County: Fulton Creek, Fairveiw, Ridge, Steamtown, Lockport, Houk, Prospect Hill and Sugar Groove. They each have at least one House dean and multiple House teachers. A dean is a teacher that is in charge of the whole House, while teachers are in charge of just the room.
“House is a great opportunity to have some fun at the end of the day, ” Fairview co-dean Riley Jantz said. “Connect with people that you don’t see throughout the day or connect with people in other grades because we’re mixing nine through 12 in one big group.”
House Cup
Almost every day during House, there will be games to compete in or activities to do, whether that be in a House room or for the House cup. Some of these events award your house points.
The House cup is awarded to the House with the most points at the end of the school year. Prospect Hill won the 2023-2024 House cup, but before that, Steamtown was a champion for five years.
There are multiple events each House can compete in. For example, winter games, House games, lip-sync, powder puff and matball.
“I’m excited to watch our first [event], lip-sync! It’s gonna be funny,” freshman Olivia Murray said.
House Games
House Games is a yearly event where the eight Houses compete against each other in a series of events for the House cup. The day is split up into sessions. In each session there are multiple challenges students can compete in. Students must pick one game every session to participate in or watch.
“[House Games day is] one of my favorite times of the year,” Senior Vicky Chen said. “It’s so fun you get to skip school one day and do like a miniature version of the olympics.”
There is hula hoop challenge, pottery throwdown, paper airplane race, boggle, cupcake challenge and many more. There are also many athletic competitions students can choose from like capture the flag, pickleball, tug of war or volleyball.
For House Games Day students most likely won’t need their whole backpack since they won’t be doing school work. They should just bring their phone, water and anything else needed for the events they are about to compete in.
At the end of the day, the goal of House is for students to have fun and connect with each other. It is an experience that will allow students to grow and have fun despite the stress from school.
“I like the break from school work and you get to just focus on making friends,” Murray said.
