University School - House System

House System

Similar to many boys' schools in England and Australia, University School's has a House System. Every student is assigned to a house, which integrates students from all grades and provides a structure for the boys to connect with each other for companionship and support. Houses participate in community service activities and spirited athletic competitions. Every year, younger and older boys compete in Founders’ Day, a tradition that celebrates the school’s founding in 1890. Houses are organized to encourage greater interaction between students, especially students at separate campuses and in different grades. As such, the House System is a large part of student life at University School. House meetings occur regularly at the Upper School, in which faculty and students may plan activities and community service projects such as the annual Thanksgiving food drive. Each House elects a prefect from the senior class who acts as the House leader.

Houses are typically named after former Headmasters or notable alumni donors, and each House has a color to represent it. The numbers, names and colors of Houses have changed over the years.

The current House names are: Anderson (maroon); Cruikshank (white); Goodwillie (navy blue); Hawley (purple); McCarraher (orange); McKinley (royal blue); Peters (red); Pettee (black); Pickands (green); and Sanders (gold).

Read more about this topic:  University School

Famous quotes containing the words house and/or system:

    “Strictly speaking, one cannot legislate love, but what one can do is legislate fairness and justice. If legislation does not prohibit our living side by side, sooner or later your child will fall on the pavement and I’ll be the one to pick her up. Or one of my children will not be able to get into the house and you’ll have to say, “Stop here until your mom comes here.” Legislation affords us the chance to see if we might love each other.”
    —Maya Angelou (b. 1928)

    “The United States is unusual among the industrial democracies in the rigidity of the system of ideological control—”indoctrination” we might say—exercised through the mass media.”
    —Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)