Game On! How St. Andrew's Middle School House Competition Sparks Connection
St. Andrew’s Middle School students and faculty prove that friendly, intramural competition can flourish well beyond Hogwarts.
Stepping inside the gymnasium on a warm Friday in August at St. Andrew’s 31st Street Campus, the first thing that hits you is the buzzing energy. Within the four walls of the gym, Middle School students, faculty and staff exude a giddy excitement that’s palpable. Today, St. Andrew’s Middle School caps off its first week of the 2024-2025 school year with a favorite tradition: inducting new members into Houses.
This intramural tournament includes everyone across the Middle School campus—from sixth graders to security staff—and is startlingly effective at fostering connection and building community. The secret? The annual House competition unites diverse teams around a common goal: to vie for first place and bragging rights.
This intramural tournament includes everyone across the Middle School campus—from sixth graders to security staff—and is startlingly effective at fostering connection and building community. The secret? The annual House competition unites diverse teams around a common goal: to vie for first place and bragging rights.
Today, the gym is a sea of bright, primary colored t-shirts proclaiming allegiance to one of four Houses—Bailey, McGhee, Nazro and Wilson—each named after an influential St. Andrew’s figurehead. House captains work their way through the crowd of sixth, seventh and eighth graders, drumming up excitement, donning feather boas and other outlandish props like wigs and toy swords. A handful of faculty watch from the sidelines, smiling, and wearing t-shirts that read “Switzerland” in big block print. It’s a playful nod to their neutral role in the competition, often called on to judge with impartiality.
This Friday afternoon, the Bailey, McGhee, Nazro and Wilson Houses will welcome new members into their fold with a rollicking induction ceremony, complete with creative initiation rituals and a cheer tunnel. Throughout the induction, the entire gymnasium echoes with cheers, laughter and high fives, the entire school is eager to kick off the competition and start winning points.
“The Middle School House System was started 11 years ago, in 2014, to develop more connection points between different grade levels, teachers and kids,” said Head of Middle School, Tim Moore.
Moore understood intuitively how to start and grow a successful House System, having spearheaded a similar program at the Randolph School in Huntsville, Alabama, where he taught history, served as Dean of Students and was an award-winning coach before joining St. Andrew’s in 2014.
The beauty of the House competition is that peers are motivated to do well, Moore said. Houses can win points and improve their ranking through performing acts of service and teamwork that support their fellow peers and the Middle School.
“The Middle School House System is special for so many reasons, but most especially for the way it gives every kid in the middle school a chance to belong,” said Amelia Brandon, a St. Andrew’s ninth grader and former House captain.
The competition also creates opportunities for students to work with faculty and staff in an informal, collegial setting.
“How cool is it if an eighth grade history teacher is in a House and doing an activity side-by-side with three sixth graders,” Moore said. “The students get to know that teacher and, by eighth grade, they will know each other really well.”
What’s more, the House competition is a place where new students at St. Andrew’s are immediately welcomed and included, Moore continued.
“In general, it builds the community up and—especially for our younger kids—makes them excited to come to school,” he added.
Another added benefit of the House competition is incentivizing participation in community service and stewardship. Opportunities to earn points include a wide range of activities such as leading easter egg hunts, turning in trip paperwork and acts of kindness.
Before the House System, a drive for school supplies would garner donations in the hundreds, and with the House System, that changed to the thousands, Moore said.
“Thinking back 10 years ago to today, what I didn’t expect—and this is a credit to St. Andrew’s students—was the way that the kids would transform the experience,” he continued. “As the years have gone on, the student body and leadership of 88 current and former House captains have grown and evolved the House competition.”
Even the decision to name the Houses after influential St. Andrew’s leadership was student-led, Moore said, noting that it was House captains who pushed to connect current students to the rich history of the school through the House names and storytelling.
Throughout the House System, Moore has enjoyed witnessing kids get more comfortable approaching adults, advocating for themselves and their peers and gaining leadership skills.
In the informal setting of House competition, “kids take risks and are quick to propose things” Moore said. At the heart of it, the House System is yet another way St. Andrew’s students are known by St. Andrew’s teachers, fostering a sense of belonging during the crucial Middle School years.
“The House System is for anybody and everybody, so you can always be a part of a team in an environment that fosters the growth of friendships, and is just a really good time,” said Amelia Brandon. “As a House captain, I was able to see this firsthand while also being able to cultivate my skills as a leader, and learning how to be an ally to the people who really need a friend in middle school.”
This fall, the newly inducted students got their first chance to earn points for their House for the first time by knocking down pins at Highland Lanes. This decade-plus tradition of bowling together as a Middle School not only kicks off the annual contest for points, it sets the tone for the teamwork and growth that await them at St. Andrew’s in the year ahead.
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