SHA created a four-group house system this school year, but according to a recent poll, more than half of the students don’t seem very happy with most of the system aside from the large house group competitions.

This included houses named Terra, Aequor, Ignis, and Ventus, spelling VITA. The names of the houses are the four main elements in Latin. The new house system is very similar to the standard school-house system created by Ron Clark Academy. The houses are randomized, and students and teachers get different colored shirts and compete against other teams in culture-building activities. Students seem to like this aspect of the system but that seems to be all that they like.

The teams are split into mini groups called griffin groups, where you check in and talk or plan with your group members in between classes. When asked how they felt about these 15-minute griffin group checks, the responses showed similar opinions.  

Recently, the Journalism class surveyed people’s feelings towards issues and activities that we have at SHA. One of the sections was about how people felt about the house system that we have. Only one grade was positive. 

In a question about whether students felt the 15-minute house check-ins were beneficial, 58% of freshmen agreed, 37% of sophomores agreed, 44% of juniors agreed, and 8% of seniors agreed. The margin of error for these poll questions is plus or minus four for grades freshman, sophomores, and, juniors and plus or minus six for seniors. Three out of four surveyed groups were below the halfway mark regarding positive choices while a majority of answers were neutral. 

Many adult leaders of house systems, however, seem to think that house systems build culture and pride in school communities. When talking about a former school’s house system,  biology teacher Mrs. Silvers said she felt very positively about its impact on the school.

“It (the school house system) was set up similarly to ours,” said Silvers, “But with Griffin Groups having mixed grade levels (e.g. 4 seniors, 4 juniors, 4 sophomores, 4 freshmen), it did work well! There was productive struggle, as we see with ours, but the Administration and the House Director at that school invested time in student leadership training, mentorship, and retreats that allowed the student leaders to be well supported in their growth in their role.”

The fact that this teacher feels so positively about house systems contrasts with the feelings of the students that the system is not beneficial to the school community. A majority of students either dislike or don’t care about the Griffin Group check-ins for the houses. 

The leader of the house group Terra, however, agrees with the adults regarding the house system. 

“My bias as a house captain should probably be taken into consideration,” says Ariel Cummings, “but I genuinely like the house structure. For our first year holding this new system at SHA, it has a few quirks that need to be adjusted, but overall, it is a great start to something that has a lot of potential.”

Student opinions on house competitions however are a bit more positive than they are for griffin group check-ins. When each grade was asked whether they felt that house competitions were beneficial in building the school’s community 47% of freshmen agreed, 40% of sophomores agreed, 40% of juniors agreed, and 46% of seniors agreed. These are much higher positive statistics overall than there were for the benefit of the griffin group check-ins. The students enjoy the competitions and events more while the adults seem to resonate with all parts of the house system in a much more positive way. When asked about the house system a house leader had this to say:

“I think the house system is a bit disorganized,” says house leader Lee Delgado, “for the main reason that we’re all still getting used to it and adjusting to everything. But other than that, the house system is fun during competitions and events.”

This house captain feels more negatively about the structure of the house system generally, however feels pretty positively towards house competitions and events as do almost half of the students in each grade. 

At the end of the day, the house systems, such as the one we have at SHA, seem to be positively received by adults and more negatively received by participating students.  A majority of adults and leaders agree that they help build communication, culture, and pride between both students and teachers.