This story is part of our ongoing coverage about House.  For more stories about the House system, click here.

Students at Hayes have many opportunities to continue to grow their social skills during their seven-hour school day, including House, which is a dedicated 25-minute class period at the end of each day for students to socialize, collaborate, and team build.
The House system was created in 2015, when Hayes Assistant Principal Rex Reeder constructed eight student-based teams, known as houses. These houses were designed to limit social cliques and stereotypes.
Unfortunately, students who attend the career center or community colleges during the afternoon and are not present at Hayes, are ineligible to participate or compete in House activities.
“To be honest, I’d love them all to participate,” Reeder said. “The problem is, House is a five day [a week] commitment.”
Madi Reinhart, CCP student and senior at Hayes, has mixed opinions on why she, along with other CCP students, cannot participate in House Games, even if they are not present for the class period.
“It’s kind of sad not being in House,” Reinhart said. “Last year I had so much fun and I made so many good friends. And this year, I don’t have that break [from] classes.”
However, many students and teachers argue that it is not fair to allow CCP students to come back at the end of the year to participate in House Games, since they have not been in House all year.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think that it’s fair for CCP [and other part-day] students to come back and compete on that day for House,” said Kathy Kraus, the dean of Houk House.
Reeder has a similar opinion. “It’s hard to tell all the other 1200 students that are in House that students who have not been in house all year are going to play the games,” Reeder said.
Missing out on House is just one of many social sacrifices that CCP students have to make when it comes to high school events. “I am sad that our CCP students can’t just stay in House,” Kraus said.
“There’s a lot of things that I think you miss out on, if you choose to do CCP,” Kraus said. “But I think that it is just all about your priorities. And I don’t fault anybody for choosing to get those college credits early and for free.”
Additionally, CCP schedules are not very accommodating towards high school events. “I mean, there’s no true way to work around a CCP schedule because some classes are at night, some [in the] morning, and some [are in the] afternoon,” Reinhart said.
Unlike other years, this year’s upperclassmen were given the opportunity to opt out of House. That being said, those that had schedules conflicting with House had to fill out the opt out form as well.
Reeder said that of the students who are in the building during the afternoon, 138 students opted out of House. Kraus added that of the students that opted out, the majority did so because they had conflicting schedules, and that it was not because they did not want to be in house. Students who are part of the CCP program or Career Center, as well as other part-day students, are not counted in these “opt out” numbers.
Although many CCP students are sad that they cannot participate in House, they are still improving themselves academically, and are not ultimately choosing to miss out on social groups.
“As you get older, you have to make a lot of decisions,” Kraus said. “You have to weigh the pros and cons of every decision you make.”