As the first semester of the 23-24 school year comes to an end, we should take a moment to recognize how the five houses have performed so far. Additionally, the house captains from each house have given their own feedback on what they hope to change or improve upon in the next half of the year. Currently O’Donnell sits in first with 50.70 points followed closely by Gray with 47.72 points. In third is Meyer (41.49), followed by Lamourous (38.38) and Mauclerc (27.72).
First, each house was asked what they thought was needed from their fellow house members to either keep their current rank or improve in the second semester. Currently, Mauclerc is in last and nearly eleven points away from the Lamourous house. House captain Ben Gorin, ’24, said, “We’ll need to step up our game in attendance events and work to have a better showing at the relay day. We’ll also need to come together to make a great house show.”
Right in the middle of the standings is Meyer, and house captain Tate Wojciechowski, ’24, said, “The key to moving up in the House Cup ranks is to win at the smaller levels (Christmas Tree Decorating, Quiz League, Middle School Spelling Bee, and the Middle School Pizza Palooza). For example, it’s imperative that we get first or second place at the rest of the attendance events. We also need to advertise and promote the importance of Bring Home the Bacon drives. By capitalizing on these events, we can go into the larger ones like The Show and the Relay with confidence.”
Finally, the Gray house is in second place but not by much. When I asked Trey Cunneen, ’24, how he thought he could make this improvement in the next half of the year, he said, “We need to work on having a good show, but then also make sure that we do better in the attendance events because this is a big reason that we aren’t further away from first right now.”
From what I could tell, all the houses felt confident that they could improve in the second half as long as they could achieve better ratings at the attendance events.
I also asked the house captains about what they struggled with most last year, and how they have changed for the current year. The responses seemed to be similar to what they are still currently struggling with. Ben Gorin ‘24 from Mauclerc said, “We needed to do better in the attendance events from the 22-23 school year. We’ve been trying to promote them through our house Instagram and spreading the message through mentor group.”
Tate Wojciechowski ‘24 from Meyer said, “Last year we struggled with the disorganization of our house meetings and attendance events.”
Finally, Trey Cuneen ‘24 from Gray said, “I think last year the involvement was slightly down, this year we have worked hard to make sure that more people are involved.”
Again, it seemed like the biggest struggles across the houses were getting people involved. Tate even pointed out that it is the seniors in their house that have contributed to the lack of interest to participate in house events.
Finally, I asked the house captains what house event they are looking forward to the most for the next semester. Trey from the Gray house said, “I’m really excited to start work on the house show, I have always enjoyed seeing it come together and this year should be no different.”
Ben from Mauclerc said that his favorite part is the house Christmas party where Coach Moe reads the Night Before Christmas and eats cookies. For next semester, Ben said that they already have a great plan for their house show with some huge “WOW” moments.
Meyer also agreed that they are looking forward to the House Show. Tate even said, “You simply can’t avoid or procrastinate the preparation for The Show. The chaos and disorder that comes with preparing a video and realistic choreography will be challenging. However, in this challenge, I see great potential and reward in our Meyer House members, deans, and especially our seniors.”
Overall, it seems that the houses are all getting prepared for a good house show performance in a few months.
The Chaminade House System is a great way to join fellow students in competition. Tate mentioned that he is surprised by some of the other houses’ ideas to go above and beyond to win certain competitions. Overall, the house captains wish that there was more participation in the events, and this might even be enough to take the lead by the end of the year. It’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out with the standings.
Thank you to all the house captains who contributed with their feedback.
