Tymia having a blast during House Cup Day 2017
It is said that good players inspire themselves and great players inspire others.
St. James School laid the foundations of good sportsmanship and good times with its 3rd annual House Cup Day, held Friday, June 16, 2017.
To develop a positive school culture, St. James has four houses: Humilitas, Patientia, Industria, and Benevolentia. Each house is carefully created to encourage the best in each student focusing on the individual traits of humility, patience, hard work, and kindness. Throughout the school year the staff members and students of each house regularly eat lunch together, socialize, take field trips, and collaborate on service projects.
“Our house system is a great opportunity to spend a lot of time with a group of students and really get to know them,” says Director of High School Placement Rebecca Solnit.
House Trips: Service Before Fun
This year, Humilitas volunteered at Prodigy Day Care, a local daycare center, for its end of year house field trip.
Patientia visited the beloved horses of Special Equestrians.
Industria worked diligently to clean the Church of the Advocate.
Benevolentia tended herbs and vegetable plants at the local urban farm Mill Creek Farm.
With a mixture of service work and recreation, the house system fosters friendships and a sense of community with the school.
Let the Games Begin
To celebrate a year of team building and personal growth, House Cup Day is a high energy day of fun filled games with a focus on strong camaraderie. At the end of the day, the points are tallied and the winning house has its name mounted to the official house cup.
Activities throughout the day included a zesty mix of brain and brawn. From math, spelling, and geography competitions to obstacle courses, balloon toss, and the new smash hit “Pin the Collar on Father Kellner” (don’t worry . . . we used a poster and no actual priests were injured during House Cup).
The day ended finally with a full school tug of war. Houses rooted for their own house team members as well as opposing houses. Upper school students especially showed leadership and school spirit to inspire their lower school house team members.
“I love my house because you get to be goofy and you get to be kind and when others are down, we get to turn their day around,” says Tymia, 5th grader.
Famed coach Harry Sheehy said, “It is your response to winning and losing that makes you a winner or a loser.”
This year House Industria may have taken the prized House Cup . . . but everyone was a winner.
