Wilson Hill House System

At Wilson Hill Academy, every 7th-12th grade student is in one of four houses. These houses are named after famous Christian authors: C.S. Lewis, St. Augustine, Flannery O’Connor, and Jane Austen.  

How it works 

When you join WHA (or when you reach 7th grade), you are added to a house. Siblings are put in the same house, but there are no requests, so cousins and friends could be in different houses. Every house has its own mascot, leadership team, Bible verse, motto, and organizations. Throughout the year there are also competitions for the houses, which are always a lot of fun. There is a house meeting almost every month where the entire house comes and plays games, which is always a lot of fun. 

Mascot, Motto, Bible Verse 

Every house has a mascot that relates to its author. Lewis’s is Reepicheep from the Chronicles of Narnia. Augustine is a horse, since he was from Hippo (hippo is Greek for horse). O’Connor’s mascot is a peacock because Flannery O’Connor owned peacocks. My sister and I are in Austen house, and our mascot, a wolf, takes a bit more explaining. Our motto comes from Pride and Prejudice and is, “My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.” The idea behind the wolf is that their courage comes from the pack. As Austenites house members are better together. Finally, our house Bible verse is Proverbs 21:21, “Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor” and our house colors are purple and gold.  

Leadership Team 

Each house has a Senior House leader and a Junior House leader, who are a senior and junior in high school. There are elections for rising juniors at the end of each year, and whoever is chosen becomes the next Junior House leader, and eventually the Senior House leader. The leaders are in charge of planning the meetings, organizing the competitions, and overseeing any house organizations. They also choose a team of about 10-15 other high schoolers to help come up with ideas for meetings, take attendance at the meetings, run the organizations, etc. I am a Knight in Austen House, which is the title for the leadership team.  

Organizations 

Most houses have either a newspaper, a news network, or both. In Austen House, we have a newspaper, of which I am the editor. As the editor, I assemble the team at the beginning of the year. Then we all work to make an online newspaper/magazine that will be sent out to the rest of the house each month. I have heard that other houses make videos instead of a newspaper to wrap up meetings and encourage competition participation. 

Competitions 

Throughout the year there are different types of competitions for the houses. For example, this year, the first three competitions are a photography series competition, a Christmas Rube Goldberg machine competition, and a collage competition. The photography is for October, the Rube Goldberg is for November, and the collage is for December and January. The house leaders choose the best entry from each house to represent the house. Then the four entries (one from each house) will be judged, and points go to each house based on the place they get in the judging. The house with the most points at the end of the year wins the House Cup.  

Meetings 

Almost every month there is a meeting for all the house members. The Junior House members (seventh and eighth grade) have one meeting, and Senior House members (high schoolers) have a different one. We usually play games, announce competition winners, and talk about any news. The games are always a lot of fun, and we often go into breakout rooms so we can have smaller groups to talk to and get to know. Sometimes we’ll even have separate meetings to watch a movie together.  

The house system is a great way to get involved with WHA and make new friends. I love being part of Austen House and the community of wonderful students.