House System
-
The House SystemThe Spirit of Frassati -
-
What Is The House System?
What is the Frassati Catholic House System? We're glad you asked! A pillar of the Frassati Catholic experience, the House System allows our students to emulate Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati in their day-to-day lives.
Are there competitions? Is there comraderie? Is formation involved? Do House Ties run deep?
Yes, yes, yes, and yes! Watch the House System Explained for a quick overview, and read below to learn more.
-
-
-
Four Cities - One School
The House system is made up of four Cities from Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati's life. Every student, the second they're admitted, are assigned a house. And their whole family participates in it too - including siblings and parents.
The four Houses are:- Florence
- Pollone
- Rome
- Turin
Throughout the year the Houses compete in competitions and formation days. Each City comes with a rich tradition that is passed on from generation to generation at Frassati Catholic.
-
-
-
A Warm Welcome
A few days before the beginning of each school year, our incoming freshmen participate in Camp Falcon. This day-long retreat serves to help each incoming class build community, form social connections, and share House System placements.
Camp Falcon is run by the Frassati Catholic Student Life team in collaboration with the Executive Committee (more on them below).
-
-
-
The Competitive Spirit
Which City is the best? Undoubtedly the City that you're in! And that's the point. The House System inspires community across grade levels, and our new students are embraced by upper classmen from the beginning. New students at Frassati Catholic quickly learn about our culture and community by interacting with students in their House across the grade levels.
You'll grow in community and enjoy friendly competition throughout the year. Highlights include Spirit Week, a one-week bonanza each fall full of dress-up days, academic and athletic competitions . Then, in the spring, we host March Mania, the second semester counterpart to Spirit Week.
And when all is said and done, the points earned during the regular yearly competitions are tallied, and the winning City is awarded the Tipi Loschi Cup!
-
-
-
Forming Leaders
The House System also forms the basis of our student-led leadership team, the Executive Council. Our Executive Council is made up of representatives from each house - 5 students from every City.
Houses elect their representatives each year, and the four Cities leadership teams convene as a larger governing body every week to make decisions on behalf of the houses, as well as the school overall.
Each City has a Mayor - the executive leader - as well as four Representatives - two from the boys house, and two from the girls house. Each leadership team is responsible for advancing the mission and legacy of their house, as well as working in collaboration with leadership from other Cities during weekly Executive Council meetings.
-
-
-
The Tipi Loschi Cup
The Tipi Loschi Cup, named for Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati's friend group, the Tipi Loschi or Shady Characters, is the prize awarded at the end of each year to the City that earns the most points.
The Tipi Loschi were known for their joy, friendship, proclivity for fun and games, and practical jokes. They reveled in each others company and are an ideal example of true, virtuous friendship.
-
-
-
Florence
Significance in the life of Bl. Pier Giorgio
City where his father owned a newspaper called "La Stampa"
City Color - red
Florence Houses
John Paul II
Named for St. John Paul II
Maria Goretti
Named for St. Maria Goretti
-
-
-
Pollone
- Significance in the life of Bl. Pier Giorgio
- A small town in northern Italy where Pier Giorgio’s grandparents, the Ametis family, lived. He spent lots of time here.
- City Color - green
- Pollone Houses
- Significance in the life of Bl. Pier Giorgio
-
-
-
Turin
- Significance in the life of Bl. Pier Giorgio
- City in northern Italy where Pier Giorgio grew up. He is buried in the Cathedral of Turn, which also houses the Shroud of Turin.
- City Color - white & blue
- Turin Houses
- Significance in the life of Bl. Pier Giorgio
-
-
-
Executive Council
- The Executive Council of 20 (16 Representatives and 4 Mayors) students meets weekly and consists of all elected officials of the Houses and Cities.
- Each city organizes one school-wide event: the Blender, Homecoming, Mother/Son and Father/Daughter Dance, Prom. These rotate each year—so that during a student’s four years here, they will have the opportunity to help organize each of these events.
- Each city will do a service project each year. If the school event they are planning is in the fall, their service project will be second semester and vice versa.
- Houses discuss possibilities for these service projects and submit proposals to the City Council. These are presented at the city council meeting and voted on.
Competitions
- To promote a healthy level of competition that will foster the pursuit of a virtuous life, each City is awarded points throughout the year for activities that promote a life lived in the spirit of the beatitudes.
- During Spirit Week, the winning city is announced at the end of the Spirit Dance; this city’s name is added to the Spirit Week Plaque.
- At the end of each year, a single city is awarded the Tipi Loschi Cup in honor of our patron who started a society by this name in order to build strong bonds of friendship.
-
