Welcome Home: CET’s Unique House System Reminds Students Where the Heart Is
 

Respect, Empathy, Acceptance, Honesty, Cooperation, Integrity, Nobility, and Gratitude. The House system is in full effect at CET once again this school year with all eight houses hosting their first meetings of the year last Friday. The House System is vertically designed to promote multi-age, multi-grade connections among students, faculty, and staff, with the goal of giving students an opportunity to experience a sense of belonging and purpose through their House interactions in addition to their classroom and grade-level activities.
 

Assistant Principal, Craig Campanaro shared that the Houses had specific goals for their first meeting, which included making sure the new kindergarten students felt welcomed and taking time to reignite the relationships forged last year.
 

As the oldest students in the school, fourth-graders are empowered to be role models for their peers and are given opportunities to practice leadership skills. For example, the fourth-graders were excited to head to the K/1 wing to escort their housemates to their meeting spaces and will be responsible for teaching their “House Chants.”
 

Fourth-graders, Belle and Maddie from the House of Cooperation shared that it’s “fun to be the oldest in the school” and that they like helping the Kindergarten students. They understand the importance of setting a good example for everyone and made an effort to help the kindergarten students in their House feel welcomed by offering to sit next to them. 
 

Julian and Desi, fourth-graders in the House of Nobility, understand that many of the younger kids might not be as “outgoing” as they are, so they plan to put their outgoing personalities to use by encouraging students to participate in activities.
 

During their meetings, the groups spent time making new name tags, getting to know each other, and creating posters to encourage racers at the upcoming Harry Chapin Run Against Hunger. As Mr. Campanaro described, the benefits of the House system are vast and enable the CET team to reimagine what school can be. “It gives our students the opportunity to come together across multiple age levels to work on projects and problem-solve. And it also allows us to think about what our schedules could look like because, on a Flex Friday, we switch it around to enable our eight Houses to come together for non-traditional activities,” he said.
 

House meetings will continue to happen once a month at CET and we can't wait to see what our students will accomplish together throughout the year!