Day 10: Inter-House Athletics

I think I could write forever about Inter-House Athletics, but we will be leaving for our farewell dinner shortly. I wanted to try to get a post in quick this evening because I'm not sure how late we'll be. We're expecting over 70 people at Moyo's tonight! This evening has been highly anticipated; however, it is bittersweet because it means our time together is drawing to a close.

Before Inter-House Athletics started, a few of the students who will be missing school on Friday met up at the pool for the Polar Bear Swim. This is an annual event for Grade 11s and 12s. During the coldest part of the year, the students who sign up jump into the pool and swim down and back. I'm disappointed that we will miss it on Friday- there are outfits and cheers and it sounds like a great time. But I am very happy that Mrs. Hagen arranged this morning for students who will be missing. There were about 10 students (I think?) who participated, including 3 from Chagrin! I was SO PROUD of Nick, Simon, and Lauren for swimming. Nick made it one length and Simon & Lauren made it the whole way! By the way- the pool was only 2 degrees Celsius this morning. I'll let you do the math :)

Now it was finally time for Inter-House Athletics. At CHC, the students in grades 8-12 are divided up into 4 houses: Truro (blue), Penzance (red), Bodwin (green), and Clamborne (yellow). As soon as a student enters Grade 8, he/she is placed into a house. If the student has a sibling in Truro, then he/she will also be placed in Truro. The house system is fantastic. The students grow close over the course of 5 academic years, thanks to activities like Inter-House Athletics and weekly house meetings. It is an EXCELLENT way of getting the upperclassmen to mentor to the underclassmen. It really helps the younger students become acclimated to the college environment and the expectations set.

The morning starts at 8 with the team entrances. All students wear their track pants or shorts and their house t-shirt, but some houses add their own flair for the entrance- like kilts! They sit in their respective spot in the pavilion (grandstand) and cheer, have flags, paint their faces, etc as they watch the events. Athletics is the term that South Africans use for track and field. So essentially, we watched a track meet that had 100% student participation. Regardless of athletic ability or prior experience with track and field events, all students do something on this day. The events are kept equal as the heats are divided into U-14s (Grade 8s) up through the Open division (Grade 12s- the Matrics). All the points for each age group, boys and girls, are added for a house total. They keep track of the meet records as well. I THINK I was told that they take the top times and distances for an event in October, but I'm not sure if that is correct.

It's wonderful to see everyone being active, as well as observing all the school spirit! Some of our students participated in events and others led cheers. The CHC students actually FOUGHT over American students to cheer in their section :) I was fortunate enough to help out with the high jump events for the day. It was yet another cloudless day and it warmed up rather nicely- the perfect day to be outside.

Lauren, Maddie, and I are already scheming as to how WE can incorporate Inter-House Athletics at CFHS. We really think that it could be a good thing for our school, promoting unity and school spirit. Lauren is already thinking of the proposal to make to our new administration. There are so many positive outcomes that could come from this event, everything from mentoring, encouraging school spirit, promoting physical fitness, etc. I hope that we were able to draw enough information from the CHC students and teachers today to make this event possible at Chagrin!

We all had an afternoon off- and now we're going to dinner! Have a wonderful evening and I will post later if I can :)