Hello! This is Sade Moore a Learning Mentor at Hakusanroku Campus. I want to take this journal as an opportunity to talk about and hard launch the official International College of Technology House System!

 At Hakusanroku Campus for the past two and a half years, we have been utilizing a House System for the students who reside here. This House System was created as a way for the 1st year and 2nd year students to work together for a common goal and get rewarded for the good deeds and accomplishments that they do throughout the semester at Hakusanroku Campus by collecting House Points. The students are split between four Houses and each House is led by their Head of House, which is a Learning Mentor who oversees those students who are in their House. Students can earn various amounts of House Points by finishing and completing homework assignments and showing it to a Learning Mentor, cleaning up around Hakusanroku Campus, attending designated workshops that the Learning Mentors put on throughout the semester, volunteering for organization checks of their school materials with a Learning Mentor, or any good merit that a Learning Mentor may see a student exhibit. Students can also get demerits and lose points for any negative aspects of their behavior such as, being late to Learning Session, not attending their Roll Calls, not cleaning up after themselves and leaving their materials, possessions, and trash unattended around the campus, or any other negative demerits that a Learning Mentor may take notice that a student has done. Together, in their house, over the semester they have to work together to collect and earn (or lose) as many House Points as possible, in order to be the House with the most House Points at the end of the semester and thus winning the ICT House Cup. After each semester, the students will randomly be placed in a different House for the next semester.

 In the semesters past, the ICT House System utilized the four Houses from a well-known book and movie franchise. However, obviously this system couldn’t be used forever, and there was a need to make the House System more tailored to being an ICT House System. Therefore, at the end of the 2025 1st Semester, we surveyed the students and asked them to choose between a list of animals that are endogenous to Hakusaroku and live around Hakusanroku Campus such as, kamemushi, Asian black bear, frog, golden eagle, kamoshika, etc. The thought was, the 4 animals that the students liked the most would go towards being the animals that would be the symbols of the new ICT Houses. The four winning animals of this survey ended up being: fox, Japanese monkey(macaque), golden eagle, and the stoat. From there, I went to work and began to design the new House Crests.

 I wanted the design for the new Houses to be cohesive and also indicative of ICT and the House System that the students were already used to using beforehand. For the logo I wanted to create something that was similar to the logo used officially for ICT, but still unique and different, and although it took a lot of time, between the end of the 1st Semester of 2025 and the start of the new 1st Semester of 2026, the new House logos were finally completed and ready to be unveiled to the students, and now we can reveal them to everyone else!

The first House I will be introducing is Soragle

 

Name origin: Sora (sky)+ Eagle

Representative animal: Golden Eagle

Main Color: Blue

Secondary Color: Gold

Element: Water

Cardinal Direction: West

Defining Characteristics: Bravery and Innovation

Head of House: Krishia

 

Now to introduce, Monkage house

Name origin: Monkey + kage (shadow)

Representative animal: Japanese monkey (macaque)

Main Color: Green

Secondary Color: Silver

Element: Earth

Cardinal Direction: East

Defining Characteristics: Grit and Teamwork

Head of House: Domyson

 

 

The next House to be introduced is Vixtsune.

Name origin: Vix (short for vixen) + kitsune (fox)

Representative animal: Fox

Main Color: Red

Secondary Color: Black

Element: Fire

Cardinal Direction: North

Defining Characteristics: Cleverness and Curiosity

Head of House: Dianne

 

Last but not least, introducing Fuwapaw house.

Name origin: Fuwafuwa (fluffy) + paw

Representative animal: Japanese stoat

Main Color: Yellow

Secondary Color: White

Element: Light

Cardinal Direction: South

Defining Characteristics: Nobility and Resilience

Head of House: Sade

 

 

 

 With these four distinct Houses created it was the hope that our students could feel like this is actually their school’s own identity and is in fact a unique characteristic that they can feel proud of. Since implementing the House System at ICT, there has been a marked difference in the demeanor and character of our students. Even though they hate losing points for their Houses, it gives them a sense of responsibility and teamwork that they can strive for throughout the semester and the overall feedback from our ICT 1st and 2nd year students has been overwhelmingly positive for the House System. At the end of each semester, we give a survey to the students and ask them if they want to continue to utilize the ICT House System and we consistently get over a response of over 96% of the students wanting to continue the House System into the next semester.

 With the launching of the official ICT House System from the 1st Semester of 2026, the stakes are even higher for the students. The House that accumulated the most points by the end of the semester usually gets to choose between a special meal of their choice provided by the Learning Mentors at the end of the semester party each semester for all of their hard work. From this semester though, there is now an official House Cup Trophy that the winning House can win and write their names on the pennant ribbon which will be attached to the House Cup Trophy and displayed on the campus for everyone to see. It is our hope that all of the 1st year and 2nd year students continue to enjoy and get value out of the ICT House System in the future and through the ICT House System will become and remain productive, caring, and helpful students at ICT.

Sade Moore