If you have attended Trinity for even a day, you would have the opportunity to experience the House system in action. From the start of my high school career, I was oriented into the House concept and involved in its activities. But Houses have not always been part of the school.  Up until 2001, Houses didn’t exist at Trinity.

According to Trinity’s Website, “The House system also encompasses student government at Trinity. There are nine student representatives for each House – three seniors, and two each from the junior, sophomore and freshman classes. Together, they form a vibrant and responsive student government comprising 90 students who are elected by peers to serve each year.”

The House approach was introduced by Trinity Principal Dan Zoeller, who spent a summer in England, learning from the education system there on a grant he won. He encountered the system in many schools there, and possibly to your surprise, well before the Harry Potter franchise become popular.

One goal was to provide students with a House of about 130 students they could work with on a regular basis. Students could grow at Trinity by becoming part of a smaller segment of the school.

Two years after the system started, Mr. Matt Manning, current director of activities and House system director, began working at Trinity. “I thought (the system) was an awesome idea. I loved it from the beginning,” Manning said.

Manning was a mentor and adviser in the House system before he became the House director. Over the years, the system has evolved while maintaining the goal of making students feel more included in the school.

“The idea was, at the time, that we wanted each House to have its own identity,”  Zoeller said.   

It was decided that each House was to be named after a different famous Catholic Church leader, and that each name had to begin with a different letter. The colors soon came after, and then the mascots were chosen. Over the years, a few mascots have changed, but no real changes have taken place along the lines of the House goals.

The House Cup, which goes to the year’s winning House, used to be based only on a simple point scale from a handful of competitions each year. It can be easily seen how this has been changed by introducing intramural sports, speech contests, spirit competitions, obstacle courses, and even presentations to the School Board.

“It has changed every year,” Zoeller. “Every summer the House director, who used to be me, now it’s Matt Manning, will sit down with students and adult heads of the Houses, and they will talk about what they think went right and what they think needs changing. We never even spoke to the Board before the last two years; that’s been a new thing. We never had the obstacle course for the first few years, either, so it’s changed a bit over the years.”

I was also surprised to find out that the House lanyards all Trinity students are so accustomed to wearing have only been around for five years. Whether we see it or not, there is constant meticulous planning and thought put into every activity, event, game, marquis event and contest that make up the House events for a school year.

From the start, Zoeller said, they wanted one thing for the House System: “What we hoped it would do was make a big school a little smaller, so that people felt like they had a place. We also wanted to try to catch more students who might have been falling through the cracks. With the House system, you get invitations to get involved every week in something. Whether it be trash-talking in advising periods or the obstacle course or the great House basketball championship when everyone comes together to the gym, it’s created some fun throughout the school year.”

He also commented on how the House system was designed to include underclassmen much more: “By the time you get a driver’s license and a girlfriend or a job, you don’t have a lot of outside time. But when you’re a freshman or a sophomore and you’re just getting started at Trinity, this gives you immediate belonging.”

Zoeller is very proud of what the House approach has become: “I think the best thing about the House system has been the leadership that it’s brought out in students throughout their four years here. Before the House system, there were only a handful of leadership positions throughout the school. There weren’t two freshman/sophomore/junior/senior leaders from each House.

“A House every year, I think, kind of rides on senior leadership. It’s about four or five guys who are really excited about getting other people excited; if you can do that, then you’re going to do well.”

As I’m sure that many students are pleased with the House system, I’m also aware that many take it for granted, not realizing how lucky they are to be a part of such a well-developed approach that brings us all closer together in a friendly yet strong rivalry.

Few may know this, but once Trinity’s Houses began, other schools in the country began to follow suit, even scheduling visits and/or Skype calls with Trinity to see how the system worked.

Many were very pleased, with schools from Nashville, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, and all over the country looking to Trinity to aid the development of their own Houses. Even schools here in Louisville like St. Raphael and Assumption have adopted similar systems.