How do students at Lincoln High School feel about the house system? Do they agree with many staff members that it’s one of their favorite things at school? Or do they feel more neutral about it?
Here at Lincoln, we are unique in many ways. One of, if not the most unique thing about Lincoln from other schools in the Seattle area, is the house system, a multigrade grouping system created by the class of 2022 where every Lincoln student is assigned a house that they remain in for all 4 years. The purpose of the house system is for students to build connection with peers outside their own grade level.
To find out what different people thought about the system, I interviewed people about the pros and cons of the houses. Here are the responses;
“It allows for our upperclassmen to do a lot of mentoring with our underclassmen. I think it does a really good job of building community that way, and also that even in the ninth grade, that they’re already in their houses and so they get to have that community in there as well,” said Ms. Kniseley (Square house).
“It creates communities but it’s also it creates beef,” – Finn Leong (11th grade, Square house)
“Well it’s just fun and it makes it so it’s not always seniors against freshmen because that feels very intimidating when you come in here… something I love about Lincoln is that it feels very friendly and people care about each other in the houses themselves to make that kind of fun,” said Doc V a.k.a “Trevor the Triangle”
“The cheers could be better. Another con is it’s a little bit dividing, not much, but when you’re in assemblies… or at the beginning of the year, when we got our houses is a little bit dividing. And then for pros it’s a lot of fun cause it’s very like Hogwarts,” – Gabi Stukovsky (9th grade, Square house)
The consensus of staff and students alike is that the house builds community and spirit and allows students of all grades to get to know each other. Some students feel like the house system can be divisive at sometimes, but overall everyone agrees it’s fun in concept and sometimes in practice.
As for whether people liked the house system overall, all the teachers I asked gave an overwhelming yes. However, many students had differing opinions.
“Honestly I think I would prefer just being with our grades,” said Elena Lai (10th grade, Circle house).
“The house system is alright, like it’s kind of fun competing against other houses but. I feel like we should get to pick our house. Not just randomly assigned,” – Tenzin Tsundue (9th grade, Oval house)
“It’s OK, it’s not my favorite. I think it would be better if it was grades and not random,” said Kellyn Doyle (11th grade, square house)
“The process [of houses] is pretty good,” – Ian Hoehne (12th grade, Triangle house)
Finally, I asked everyone what could be improved in the house system to make it more fun. Even though not all students love the house system, staff and students agree that there are some things that could make the houses better for everyone.
“Be able to like transfer to different houses and choose where you want to go, ” – Tae Smith (9th grade, Triangle house).
“A mascot of some big man wearing a Red Square. Let’s do that,” Finn Leong (11th grade, square house). I then had to inform Leong that Square house is purple and there is no red house.
“Maybe within your house like we could do some movement, where we could be together in different ways … I think we have some work to do,” Ms. Kniseley (Sqaure house).
“I don’t know, maybe just like some of the cheers are a little bit bad,” Claire Suk (9th grade, Triangle house).
I also interviewed senior Cannon Evans who is the Triangle house representative to get to know what the house representatives are doing to improve our house system and if it aligns with students opinions.
“As the house Rep, we basically manage house points and house activities,” Evans said. “So that would be games that you see in assemblies and we’re also this year trying to have house events at least once every other month.”
“There will be house merch so you know, everyone can rep… and we’re going to try to have more built in time to just really get to know people in your house.”
Even though right now the house system is seen as “irrelevant” (Leong) by some students, everyone seems to agree that if Lincoln works to build community, participate in events, and “be more hype” (Doyle), the house system can thrive and be fun and inclusive for everyone.
