House is something that makes Providence special. It is a free period once a week in which students group up to form friendships across grades. Senior House Leader Evelyn Hemler said,“House is a community of young women [and men] that do fun activities.”
Since COVID times, House leaders have seen many difficulties. Senior House Leader Olivia Klammer says she encouraged student enthusiasm about the week by “talking up the activities” and “participating to the max.”
Leading members of House all agree that not having food during House is an unfortunate loss to the fun of the period. Sadly, since there can only be a limited number of people in a space, this means less bonding between houses. Ms. Greene, the head of all the girl houses, input, “Planning anything outside of the house location is a lot harder now, since there can only be a defined number of people in certain spaces.”
To kick off House Week, students came to school wearing Christmas colors on Monday. Also, the high schoolers were given a chance to compete against one another. The house leaders stuck ornaments with the names of each house to themselves. A student would ask the house leader for one and bring it to the Upper School Office to hang it on the tree.
Tuesday was a full uniform day, however, this did not stop the fun of House Week. The students were given tasty glazed donuts and juice before school in the atrium. Additionally, the boy House leaders put trivia questions in the hallways during passing periods and students guessed the answers.
On Wednesday, the spirit wear theme was Valentine’s Day. Girl House leaders set up a jar of red candies where students guessed the number of candies and as the prize: collected all the candy. To celebrate the theme, the girl houses made cards for the Letters of Love Club during House period while the boy houses played a game in the gym.
With Halloween looming closer and closer, the Upper School spent Thursday dressed in orange and black to celebrate the upcoming holiday. At the end of the day, the girl houses watched Halloween movies while the boy houses played ultimate frisbee on the field.
House Week ended with high school showing off their patriotism by dressing in red, white, and blue. Continuing with the theme, a hunt was held for all fifty states.
House Week brought joy and excitement to the high school even in the face of COVID-19.