Here's a snapshot of the first day of school at CVCMS, as all 7th-graders and any new 8th-graders are divided at random as part of our House System or House Cup:

The first thing that hits you is the waiting. The anticipation envelopes you like a thick cloud as heavy as the August air around you. You’re standing in a line with 70 other kids, just waiting to ascend the stage. Music pulses through the speakers. Flags flutter in the wind. Tension grips you. Slowly, agonizingly, you move closer to the front of the line. You climb the steps of the stage, and before you know it, you’re standing in front of the microphone and stating your name. As a 1st-day-of-school 7^th grader, this is about the most mortifying thing you can imagine. You wish for an invisibility cloak or a human-sized hole to crawl into. But in that moment that makes a vise grip seem gentle by comparison, why don’t you just crumble? Well, as you step into the spotlight and reach into the basket to grab an envelope, those 100 sets of eyes focused on you are inviting. Everyone whoops and hollers, cheering specifically for you, and, well, that feels pretty good. When you rip open a folder and pull out a colored bandana, you don’t melt; you hold up that bandana triumphantly, like an invading general, as your crew of similarly-clad students and teachers welcome you with hugs and high-fives, making you the newest member of your new house and maybe, in the slightest and most beautiful of ways, giving you a foretaste of what heaven will be like.

What?

What exactly is this? In brief, our House System, or House Cup, is a way of captivating student engagement and imagination. Our students are divided into four houses, each with a distinctive name and designated color and virtue, for a year-long competition. Throughout the school year, students, in their houses, engage in all kinds of contests and projects, resulting in a campus awash in color and turbo-charged spirit. 

In the 2017-2018 school year, we launched the House System with our students at CVCMS. While the first students eyed this enterprise somewhat warily, unsure of the hoopla or perhaps the purpose, more recent campaigns have found students jumping on the House Cup train enthusiastically, with even ordinarily reluctant students donning wigs and face paint in the name of house spirit. 

How?

Why do we do this? The question that begs asking with all this house hoopla is, “Why?” “Why do you spend so much energy on something not part of the essential curriculum? Wouldn’t time be better spent working on other things?” It’s a fair but flawed question. First, there’s a difference between time and energy. Yes, there's energy galore devoted to this, but not time (at least, not class time). The genius of the House System is that it largely takes space in the margins, using before-school and lunch times to flavor the atmosphere. Granted, it only works because this team of teachers, perhaps the greatest squad since the ‘27 Yankees, gladly give up their lunchtime on Wednesdays to play or cheer alongside their teams. 

While that dissects the difference between time and energy, it doesn’t necessarily answer the “why” question. What’s the point of all of this?  As a team, we’ve talked through the “why” and how it aligns with our mission as a school to equip and inspire hearts and minds to transform the world for Christ. The house system fosters an inviting atmosphere. It teaches kids to think beyond themselves to be a part of something greater. It captivates their imagination and creates an environment in which kids love coming to school. Exhibit A: the parent who woke up in the middle of the night to find his 7^th grade son in the kitchen. “What are you doing up?” was the question. The answer is pure gold: “I can’t sleep. I’m just too excited for school tomorrow.” 

This may be the best way to explain it. After our first House Jams (lip-sync/dance contest between houses) of the year and after seeing all kids engaged and invested, Brooke Barton, our middle school leadership guru extraordinaire, shared this takeaway: "Today was a great indication of a sense of belonging—a feeling of community. I believe today was about inspiring students to experience joy, laughter, and encouragement, all things I can't wait to experience in heaven. We are living between the trees in a broken world. Today was about being in community together while we live in a broken world.”

"Today was a great indication of a sense of belonging—a feeling of community. I believe today was about inspiring students to experience joy, laughter, and encouragement, all things I can't wait to experience in heaven. We are living between the trees in a broken world. Today was about being in community together while we live in a broken world.”

That’s the heart of a Christian community: living together in a broken world. If, through their experience at the middle school, kids can know more intimately the beauty of community, they will be more fully equipped and inspired to be dynamic actors in the story of restoration that God’s writing in this world.