Middle School Houses Create Reasons to Connect - Perspective, Spring 2019

AROUND CAMPUS MIDDLE SCHOOL HOUSES CREATE REASONS TO CONNECT As if by magic, the Middle School is looking a lot more like Harry Potter’s Hogwarts these days. Each middle school student now belongs to one of six houses that have been established through the school’s new house system.

Named for the home streets of University Liggett School’s predecessor schools — Briarcliff, Broadway, Burns, Cook, Parkview and Roosevelt — each house has a motto, a mascot, a flag, 20-something students and faculty advisors.

To a fanfare of excitement, students participated in a sorting ceremony in the fall. Each student received a wooden token of their respective houses, which many fashioned into a zip-pull on their backpacks or other types of wearables.

This year, the students are creating identities for their houses, participating in friendly competitions to earn house points, and collaborating with students in grades three, four, and five in the Lower School.

Born from a mission to create more opportunities to connect and collaborate across grades and disciplines, the houses are designed to build relationships and strengths that wouldn’t naturally emerge in the traditional school structure, said Rob Butler, head of middle school and assistant head of school.

“What tends to happen is kids get on tracks and get funneled. They can be striated by grade level, with limited opportunities to interact,” said Butler.

“But it’s important to build community. If students feel known and have a voice and a role and feel more connected, they will be more successful.”

A committee led by Butler and Assistant Head of Middle School Paul Rossi researched other successful examples to learn about benefits and pitfalls, and then built programming and direction that they knew would work for University Liggett School. Faculty members serve as house heads, putting teachers and administrators from different grades together, offering another layer of development and community.

The house committee hoped that the system would be effective in furthering the value of common good. And it has, according to both Rossi and Butler.

During this academic year’s Gobblepalooza event, house points, rather than individual student tickets were awarded in exchange for donated items.

Even though students were not individually rewarded as in years past, they demonstrated plenty of house pride through the new setup.

“We usually take two loads in my pickup truck, but this year we filled an entire bus with donations,” Rossi said. “Our grand ticket total was in excess of 10,000 tickets.”

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PERSPECTIVE

Most kids will naturally compete just for the sake of competition, but the recognition that each house can succeed and be celebrated as a whole, rather than as individual parts of that whole, is animportant process for the students.

“One of the most powerful pieces is that we recognize behaviors that are consistent with our mission as a school, and people who demonstrate these values and go above and beyond are publicly recognized, but not called out by name,” Butler said. “The students recognize ‘my name wasn’t said, but they are talking about me.’ They get a sense of why that is cool.”

In turn, other students recognize that desirable behavior, too. “That’s where it can be really positive,” Butler added. “We’re not worried about this system encouraging too much good.”

As the first cohort to participate in the Middle School house system, these students are beginning to understand what it means to create a legacy for their school.

“For the most part, they are creating something new, and will understand more next year that what they created will be lasting,” Butler said. “It’s a cool process and they have been instrumental. When they create their house identity and see tangible results, it’s exciting for them.”

UL S.ORG

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