Get Sorted: New House System Comes to Epstein Next Year
By: Kayla Furie and Sara Diamant
Next year The Epstein School will be putting teamwork and having fun into a new school-wide program. All students from Kindergarten to eighth grade are going to be sorted into houses -- a system you might be familiar with from the book and movie series Harry Potter. At the beginning of the school year there will be a sorting ceremony to put every student in a house. Once a month on Friday the houses will meet and do a team building activity.
There are going to be four houses: the Bears, the Wolves, the Tigers, and the Lions. Each house will be led by a team of middle school students. All middle school grades will represented in leadership. Worried about sibling rivalry? Don't be: Siblings will all be sorted into the same house.
The four houses will compete with each other throughout the school year. Points will be awarded to houses based on grades earned and mitzvah preformed. The house that gets the most points will win a very exciting prize: The winning house will earn $500 to donate to the charity of their choice. As an added bonus, they'll also got their choice of a house-wide celebratory activity. Some choices for this are having a pizza party, getting to duck tape elementary school principle and associate head of school Mr. Welsher to a wall, or participating in a ropes course.
The goal is to create one large קהילה at Epstein! "I like this is idea because it seems to have reference to Harry Potter, of which I am huge fan!" said Laura Deckelbalm, a 5th grader, about the new house system.
Naomi Brager, a 7th grader, also can't wait to join her house. "I love this idea!" she said upon learning about the plan for next year. "I am most excited for the reward of duck-taping Mr. Welsher to a wall!" And Tyler Caplovitz and Ilan Bachar, both in sixth grade, both are excited about how the house system will be beneficial for local charities.
President of Middle School Nathan Skor is also a fan, saying that he really likes the plan and has heard many students excited and talking about it. "I wish I would be here to see how it turns out," the almost-graduate said.