Athens, Atlantis, Ilium & Rome
Our students in grades 7 to 12 are grouped into four Houses with each one under the leadership of two upperclassmen.
Students thrive in their House for their entire time in the Upper School. And siblings are always placed in the same house.
Since Ad Fontes’ very first Houses in 2012, they have been named for prominent cities of the classical era. These House names reflect our ongoing hope for creating communal bonds around our unique vision and transforming the “City of Man” into the “City of God,” to use St. Augustine’s phrase.
House Athens, Atlantis, Ilium, and Rome are built to:
- Expand student leadership, mentoring, and friendship opportunities across grade levels.
- Give every student a place where they know they belong and are accepted.
- Serve as an effective bridge between leadership, staff and students, and to facilitate student ownership of Ad Fontes.
Life in your house consists of many exciting and enriching components:
House Lunches
Once a week, students will eat lunch with their housemates in their designated house room. This is a time to build community through eating, fellowship, games, and house planning.
Assembly and Assembly Groups
Students attend our weekly assembly with their houses. After assembly, each house divides themselves by gender to discuss questions provided by the assembly speaker about his talk and the relevant Scripture. When assembly is a live faculty-student panel discussion, house groups meet to dialogue in advance and select one house member to join the panel. House leaders or other designated upperclassmen lead these discussions and the accompanying prayer time. We hope and trust that during this time students will deal honestly with both the questions and their own spiritual state, and form deeper bonds through shared times of prayer and encouragement.
The House Cup Competitions
Houses compete for the House Cup each year, which involves five different competitions designed to highlight different gifts and talents within the student body.
Risk (a version of Capture the Flag)
At the annual retreat, Houses kick off the year with an epic battle on the Camp Highroad field that involves strategy, cunning, courage, and physical skill.
The Archimedes Experience
Our first competition of the year centers around engineering skills and building teamwork within each house.
What’s Cooking
A live cooking competition and related activities to test culinary skills.
The Feriae Artium
Students contribute sketches, paintings, sculptures, and photographs to make a wonderful one day art gallery for the school. At the end of the day, we have a house-wide Talent Show replete with musical and dramatic performances.
Socrates’ Revenge
Our take on the 70’s game show has the houses compete in their knowledge of Ad Fontes classroom trivia.
The House Olympics
The final house event has competitions in soccer, dodge ball, and the grand finale, tug-of-war. Apart from these structured and formal events, each house has informal events and parties.
House Fellowship Events
Houses plan multiple social events off campus through the school year.
