In an effort to bring some combined school spirit and color to our community and campus, we would like to propose to have a House Color Day once a month. The Rhetoric School currently has four Houses (similar to the Harry Potter system), which are named Homer, Dante, Milton and Virgil. These are named after epic poets in which the students read and study about mostly in high school. Each of the Houses are beginning their third year of existence here, and we have seen a lot of good things come out of them so far.
Our main goal is that students in Rhetoric School, whether in 9th-12th, feel like they are a part of the whole, and grow in camaraderie and companionship. This also allows students to have the opportunity to strengthen friendships among all high school classes as well as leaders given chances to lead.
Each house has adopted a virtue as well, which is another back door way to talk and emulate the true, the good and the beautiful. Homer’s virtue is courage, Dante’s is wisdom, Virgil’s is temperance and Milton’s is justice. Finally, each house has created a crest (as seen on the canvases on the Cafeteria wall) accompanied with a motto written in Latin.
Homer: Victoria in Fortitudine -“Fortitude brings Victory”
Virgil: Temperantia Est Robur -“Temperance is Strength”
Dante: Sapientia Superamus -“Through Wisdom We Overcome”
Milton: Justitiam Colimus - “We Strive Toward Justice”
So our house color day would look like this:
Each house has a color assigned to it. Homer is red, Virgil is blue, Dante is purple, and Milton is green. The Grammar School classes have been assigned a certain House to support and all students will be encouraged to wear that color on this day. The Logic School students will be able to choose what House they want to support and choose to wear that color.
Each Grammar School teacher and assistant of that grade will be given a house t-shirt to wear and show support as well. House t-shirts, or color the campus days, usually fall on days where there is a big event or challenge that the Rhetoric Houses will compete in for that day, and I think it would be great if there was a visual representation of that support amongst the whole student body. Along with this, we feel that the more familiar the Grammar School students become with the Houses, the more they will grow in anticipation for becoming a member one day and taking part in all the activities. This approach could also be beneficial in the future for aligning spirit buddies across all grades in the same House. The grades and House support are as follows:
Pre-K & Kindergarten - Virgil
1st & 2nd grade - Homer
3rd & 4th grade - Milton
5th grade - Dante
House Support Days for the first semester will be on the following days: September 23rd, October 28th, November 18th, December 2nd and January 13th.
Thanks in advance for all you do for this school, and for helping build the pride and support of each House while we come together to color the campus one day a month.
Thank you,
Mark Thompson
VCA HOUSE SPONSOR