SGA Revamps House System
Lipscomb Academy introduced the house system last year, but SGA President and Vice President, Jake Rosenthal and Caroline Jackson, along with Ms. Pearl, are captaining a revamp to the system.
When meeting over the summer about how to make the system more sustainable, Pearl, Rosenthal, and Jackson crafted three goals for the houses. The first goal is that the system creates a sense of community for students, the second is that it creates some excitement about being at school, and the final one is that it creates mentorship opportunities for students.
Last year, advisories were separated into four groups, known as houses. Houses enable students to get to know people outside of their friend groups, grades, and advisories. Because being at school is required, SGA wanted to create fun and exciting opportunities, hoping to improve the school’s overall atmosphere and encourage students to want to be at school. New mentorship opportunities this year continue to make this possible. For example, house captains were elected and advisory partner groups were recently paired.
According to Jake Rosenthal, last year was a good starting point for the system; however, there were flaws.
“People just didn’t know who was in their house. We really wanted to make it this huge thing to where you felt a lot of pride for your house,” Rosenthal said.
Students are eager to see what this rebuild will look like and how things will change from last year’s system. We have already seen major changes such as new house captain roles, advisories being paired up, and specific house chapels. However, one of the most obvious changes is the names. Previously named after teachers—Burton, Pugh, Green, and Benson—SGA decided to make the system more fit for the long-term by renaming them after buildings that hold significance to the school.
The new names of the houses are Acuff, Avalon, Adams, and McCadams.
“Each of these houses is named for a building on campus that represents people and families who made generous donations of their time, talents, and financial support to bless Lipscomb,” Pearl stated.
House Acuff is named after Acuff Chapel. More specifically, the Acuff family who generously donated to Lipscomb. Acuff was the first building that was built intentionally for the academy. Acuff Chapel has been used to gather the community, hosting events such as weddings, plays, chapels, and much more.
House Avalon is named after the home of David and Maggie Lipscomb. The home has served as classrooms, dormitories, and more, but it currently serves as Dr. Schultz’s office.
House Adams is named after Adams Hall. This hall was part of a five-part expansion donated by the Adams family. This hall holds the Science labs, World Language and English classrooms, the cafeteria, the middle school hallways, and more.
House McCadams is named after Coach Glenn McCadams who served as a long-time football coach and assistant principal. According to Ms. Pearl, he is remembered for his impact on the school and the way he created a very positive, sportsmanlike attitude towards sports. He was also an example of being a Godly man to his players and the students here. The McCadams Athletic Center is named in remembrance of him.
“We just really wanted to create a more sustainable system that was connected to Lipscomb’s history as well,” Jackson shared.
House captains are a part of the SGA, and they help organize and plan the chapels, gamedays, lunches, and activities. These students were nominated and voted on by advisors for each house. Their overall job is to meet the goal of bringing excitement to the system.
The captains include Presley Miller and Jace Williamson from House Acuff, Christin Callis and Dillon Lorick from House Avalon, Mia Mitchell and Mac Baker from House McCadams, and Anil Makhdoomi and Bennett Whitefield from House Adams.
Advisories have been paired with another advisory inside their own house but in a different grade. This is intended to help build community between the grades. These groups will meet twice a month during advisory time in order to get to know each other.
According to SGA, we can expect many exciting events and opportunities throughout the school year. With more house chapels, house lunches, homecoming week competitions and decorating, and t-shirts with a crest for the house system, Lipscomb Academy students will experience community like never before.
