FAMILY SPIRIT:

THE UNTOLD STORY OF CHAMINADE’S HOUSE SYSTEM

by Marty Winkler ’05

Amos Goldkamp ’04 is slumped in his chair, just taking in the atmosphere of the Fr. Ralph Siefert Theatre. He’s never been in Chaminade’s Skip Viragh Center for the Arts before, but now here he is on the main stage for a reunion of Chaminade’s original House Captains from the 2003-04 academic year.

It’s been 20 years since the House System first came to Chaminade; 20 years since inspiration from a foreign country changed the school’s culture forever, and 20 years since this particular group of men have all been in the same room together.

“I initially didn’t want to come today,” Goldkamp bluntly stated. “But the more I thought about it, and realized how long it’s been, and how this was a chance to see all of these guys again, I thought I had to do this.”

Joining Goldkamp on stage are Gray House Captains Peter Boggeman and Tom Nonnenkamp, Mauclerc House Captain Ryan Corrigan, Meyer House Captain (with Goldkamp), Ryan Covert, and O’Donnell House Captain Rob Colonder.

20 years ago, these men, along with Lamourous House Captains Brian Hasselfeld and Brian Ryback, Mauclerc House Captain Andrew Trost, and O’Donnell House Captain Patrick Hyde, were selected by their peers to lead not just their class, but their entire school into a new era; and write the next chapter in Chaminade history. The only problem was nobody knew where, or how, to start.

“VERY MUCH LIKE US”

In 1998, Chaminade forged a new relationship with St. Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace, colloquially known as Terrace, an independent Catholic, all boys primary and secondary school located in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Initiated by then-principal and Chaminade Alum, Jim Gerker ’70, Chaminade began a student exchange with Terrace, with their students hopping overseas for a couple of weeks to experience life and school in another country, and the next semester Chaminade students joining the student body of Terrace to do the same.

“It was great for what we wanted to accomplish and become at the time,” Phil Rone stated, who is now the High School Principal and has been a Chaminade staple since 1992. “The world was becoming more and more connected globally. And we wanted our experiential education trips to take on a more global view, so this was just a good opportunity.”

The similarities between Chaminade and Terrace are easy to see on the surface; both are Catholic, both are independent, and both are centered around all-boys education. Even the locations of both schools are similar, with the city of Brisbane being located on the Brisbane River, much like St. Louis on the Mississippi. “I found they were very much like us,” wrote Colin Tillman ’01 in the 2000 Cardinal Yearbook.

Tillman was the first Chaminade student selected to visit Terrace as the second portion of the newly formed exchange program.

While the similarities between the two schools are certainly eye-popping, it was the biggest difference that captured the attention of the students partaking in the program those first few years. “All of the guys, when they would come back, would immediately talk about the House System and how cool it was,” Rone remembered. “Year after year, it was the same thing.”

Tastes and preferences vary greatly among high school boys, as they are figuring out who they are and what they are called to be. So, the consistent feedback the administration received from exchange participants every year pushed them into making a trip to Australia themselves.

“WE COULD MAKE THIS OUR OWN”

In 1991, the Society of Mary unveiled the Characteristics of Marianist Education, which are a contemporary expression of the Marianist charism: To be formed by Mary for the mission of Christ. Since then, the CMEs have become ingrained into the hearts of every Chaminade student, alumnus, teacher, faculty, and staff member:

-Educate for Formation in Faith

-Provide an Integral, Quality Education

-Educate in Family Spirit

-Educate for Service, Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation

-Educate for Adaptation and Change we have to do it too.’”

It goes without saying that these were top of mind when Gerker and other members of the administration traveled to Terrace to see the House System first-hand. What they saw was competition and teamwork between students, the intermingling of lower and upperclassmen, and students leading students.

“We thought it fit in perfectly with ‘Family Spirit’,” remembered Rone.

Upon returning, Gerker asked to form a committee to explore bringing the House System to Chaminade, including Rone as one of the committee members. “We realized that this is something that we could do, and we could make this our own,” said Rone.

The committee explored how to best create a House System for Chaminade, and how it could change the school’s culture while maintaining its traditions.

There was no middle school involvement with the high school student government as the middle school had its own, smaller version of the same system. “As a high schooler, you didn’t really think about 6th, 7th, or 8th graders that much,” Tom Nonnenkamp remembered. “They were just their own thing. You just didn’t have a reason to ever [get involved] with them.”

That division was not held to just being between the high school and the middle school level. Corrigan remembers it being more granular. “Really the grade levels were separate too,” he recalled. “It felt like freshmen stayed with freshmen, sophomores with sophomores, juniors with juniors, seniors with seniors. Unless you played a sport or joined a club, there really wasn’t much mingling between grade levels.”

If the distances between high schoolers and middle schoolers, and all grade levels for that matter, were noticed by members of the student body, it was also seen by the administration and the committee researching the House System.

“We knew which way we needed to go,” said Rone.

So, it was decided that starting in the fall of 2003, the House System would become Chaminade’s new way of life. And with that decision, Brian English ’03 would enter the record books as Chaminade’s last Student Body President.

“YOU MEAN LIKE HARRY POTTER?”

In 1997, British author Joanne Rowling released her debut novel; a story about a bespectacled orphaned boy who learns he is in fact a young wizard and is accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a fictional Scottish boarding school of magic. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the U.S.), took the world by storm. Adults and children alike could not get enough of Harry Potter and his fantastical wizarding world. The book became the first of seven, leading to an entire film franchise and its own dedicated section at Universal

Studios theme parks. It became a cultural phenomenon.

One of the aspects of Rowling’s story was the House System at the fictional school of Hogwarts, with students being sorted into one of four houses. In 2003, Harry Potter was nearing the height of his popularity, and Chaminade students were not immune to his spell.

“When the school approached us, saying that we were going to be the class to bring the House System to the school, we were all like, ‘you mean like Harry Potter,’” Peter Boggeman remembers. “At the time, (a couple) of the films had come out and that was the first place we went to.”

The Class of 2004, then juniors, took the news of the change seriously. Being asked to rewrite the culture of a school and lay a new foundation is a tall task for anyone, especially when you are a teenager.

“I remember them (the Chaminade administration) coming to us specifically and saying, ‘This system will become what you all make of it,’” Corrigan said. “And what that instilled in us was the power to engage, that we knew that 6th, 7th, 8th graders could look at us, and see that they would get their turn to make this what they want it to be. So it just kept us engaged.”

With the rising seniors on board, faculty and staff members would have to be chosen to help lead and mentor each house. For 7th grade social studies teacher, Chris Chiburis, the opportunity was something he had only dreamed about.

“I loved the Harry Potter books,” he recalled. “I liked the idea of being broken down into smaller groups, but all still being a family. And being a leader of a house, channeling a smaller group (of students), trying to form them, and being a house master like in the movies, and being a part of someone and seeing them grow, that sounded pretty cool.”

Chiburis’ enthusiasm paid off. Along with Dr. Howard Wright, he was selected to be the first dean of Mauclerc House, a position he still proudly holds today.

“JUST THEIR OWN THING”

For the school’s first 93 years of existence, Chaminade had a traditional student government: one student president, one vice president, a treasurer, a secretary, and a council of class representatives.

“Honestly, it was a joke,” remarked Joe Corrigan. “I remember if you were running you had to give a speech, usually televised on the school’s tv station, and…it all just felt like a formality. Like, ‘oh every school does this, so