Welcome to the Houses!

We are excited to begin our journey into the House System here at Blue Creek! We will have four houses that focus on traits we want our Broncos to embrace.Take some time to look at each of the four Houses, what they stand for, and their inspirations, you will be asked to select the two houses that speak to you the most, Houses will be assigned on a first come, first served basis, so don't wait!

HOUSE HISTORY

Altruismo traces its origins to the rainforests of the Amazon, where a group of powerful Brazilians were given the name because of the Portuguese meaning behind it: “the Givers.” This special group is known for striking a balance between bold strength and altruistic giving — a team that knows that real power comes not from looking out for yourself but from empowering others. They care deeply about lifting others up, but they also maintain a fiercely competitive spirit and pride. Historically, the House has been known for its smart and driven students, and Altruismo has produced more valedictorians per class to this day. Its members have been very involved in every club, committee, or activity that a school offers. Therefore, Altruismo takes great pride in being a cultivator of real leadership and instills a strong spirit within new members to grow into and live up to this legacy. Altruismo’s rival is Rêveur. When the first House Championship was held, Altruismo and Rêveur were neck and neck. In the end, Altruismo, led by the student House Leader Tasleem Wilson, defeated Rêveur by one point. This stinging defeat prompted Rêveur’s staff House Leader, Mr. Ron Clark, to jokingly call Altruismo a House of snakes! But Altruismo chose to take this and turn it into their own secret symbolic animal. That is why, even though the crest features a griffin, members of Altruismo can be heard making a hissing sound — Sss! — or seen holding their hands like a quivering snake. They turned the symbol of a snake into something that doesn’t represent evil, but instead represents a bold and fierce power that is ready to strike and do great things at any moment.

TRADITIONS

One of Altruismo’s traditions is hosting a holiday potluck each year where all of the students and parents of Altruismo bring food and celebrate. This communal meal shows their mission of being a House of giving.

Altruismo’s Hand Signal

House hand signals are used in meetings or gatherings, to rally around the House, encourage and support one another, or just for fun to show pride and spirit. The House of Altruismo’s hand signal is The Quivering Snake. To make this, place one arm down, out in front of your chest, to form a base. The other arm bends at the elbow and raises to sit on top of the base. Curving the hand down, it becomes a quivering snake head!

Altruismo’s Original Cheer

We encourage your school’s chapter of each House to choose a song and create lyrics for their own cheer, but we also would love to have you follow along with RCA’s original cheers for each of our Houses! Altruismo’s original cheer is sung to the instrumental version of “Independent” by Webbie featuring Lil Boosie and Lil Phat. We spell out our House name — A-L-T-R-U-I-S-M-O — over it, with the lyrics, “We got our own house!” You can watch and listen to the original cheer at: www.rcahousesystem.com/altruismo

Amistad is the House that originates from Mexico. A group of individuals that are quiet but powerful, they are known most for their kindness of heart. This is why, in the language of their ancestry, their name means “friendship.” Incoming members are often a mix of extremes — our students can be extremely intelligent, creative, friendly, and competitive; Amistad is a very diverse group! The House takes great inspiration from its symbolic animal, the peacock, and the leaders always remind the members of this saying: “Once the peacock finds its feathers, it discovers who it really is.” The encouragement is for each student to find his or her own feathers and discover their brilliance. While students may enter timidly, they learn to become brave as they find their true selves. In the early days of the House Championships, Altruismo, Isibindi, and Rêveur had all won multiple championships, but Amistad had not won any. The leaders rallied the students together, and the House won three consecutive championships and became one of the most powerful Houses. This legend is now passed down to remind Amistad to always be a House of perseverance.

TRADITIONS

As the House of Friendship, Amistad has a tradition of welcoming all of the students to school on the first day — with notes or tokens of appreciation left on lockers — regardless of another student’s House. Amistad has also adopted Valentine’s Day as its holiday celebration (perfect for the red House). Students bring cakes and cupcakes to share with the entire school. And a secret tradition of the House is for each student leader to write his/her own words of wisdom in a notebook by the end of the year to pass on to the next leader. This special notebook is for House leaders’ eyes only

Amistad’s Hand Signals

House hand signals are used in meetings or gatherings, to rally around the House, encourage and support one another, or just for fun to show pride and spirit.

The House of Amistad has two hand signals. The first is The Heart. To make this, we cup our hands together, joining the fingertips at the top and the thumbs at the bottom — to create a heart shape.

The second is The Crossed Keys. To make this, we make a fist with each hand, and cross our arms to make an “X” over the chest — left arm over the right — which symbolizes the crossed keys of friendship from our crest. This sign is also the American Sign Language signal meaning protection

Amistad’s Original Cheer

We encourage your school’s chapter of each House to choose a song and create lyrics for their own cheer, but we also would love to have you follow along with RCA’s original cheers for each of our Houses! Amistad’s original cheer is sung to the instrumental version of “Power” by Kanye West. We sing out our name over the music. You can watch and listen to the original cheer at: www.rcahousesystem.com/amistad

HOUSE HISTORY

Isibindi is a tight-knit group of individuals, like a pride of African lions, where family means everything. The House’s symbolic animals, the mute swan and the lion, serve to empower incoming members. While new students might be quiet or shy at first, the longer that they are in the House, the more they begin to display the characteristics of strength and bravery. In Zulu, Isibindi means “courage.” The dichotomy of sharing symbolic animals between the gentle and beautiful swan and the proud and courageous lion is what makes Isibindi so unique. It is a House that inherits the legend and influence of both Shaka Zulu as well as Nelson Mandela. It is a House that knows when to be strategic and creative, or when to pull back and be reserved, but also when to go full force with power and strength. This is why Isibindi welcomes creative and quiet kids and turns them into leaders over time. They learn that, like the mute swan, their quiet creativity can be harnessed to speak volumes in its own way.

TRADITIONS

Amistad and Isibindi are friendly rivals, and each year around the holidays, the red House and the green House partner together to throw a holiday celebration. Isibindi holds a tradition of hosting a House welcome breakfast for incoming members called the “Bindi Breakfast.” The first year, they served green eggs and ham — perfect for the green House! Over the years, Isibindi has had anything from green pancakes to green grits. Isibindi celebrates St. Patrick’s Day — of course! — with the whole school. With green decorations and treats, this is a way the House gives to all the others while also decking out the halls in their colors

Isibindi’s Hand Signal

The House hand signal is used in meetings or gatherings, to rally around the House, encourage and support one another, or just for fun to show pride and spirit.

Isibindi’s hand signal was created by the first student House Leader, Chichi Ugwuh. She had a vision for the house to be one of vision and bravery, but also love and friendships. So the hand signal is to use the American Sign Language (ASL) sign for “I Love You.” Fold your middle and ring finger down to the palm, extend your thumb, index, and pinky fingers, and hold it up. When we give the sign, we say “Who you with?” and expect a response, “Isibindi!” This shows others that no matter what, Isibindi loves you and is with you on your side

Isibindi’s Original Cheer

We encourage your school’s chapter of each House to choose a song and create lyrics for their own cheer, but we also would love to have you follow along with RCA’s original cheers for each of our Houses! Isibindi’s chant is set to the instrumental version of “Ask Around” by Kate Camp, and we spell out our name over the music. You can watch and listen to the original cheer at: www.rcahousesystem.com/isibind

Rêveur is a royal House whose name in French means “dreamers” or “idealists” — because the members who fill this group are students filled with freedom and wild abandon who recognize their dreams and will let nothing stand in the way of achieving them. This can be seen in the unicorn, which is on the center of the House’s crest, a powerful creature who is almost impossible to tame. Similarly, the House of Rêveur is a House of passion. Rêveur is the natural rival of Altruismo, because in the early days of the House Championships, Altruismo beat Rêveur by a single point, and they held a winning streak over them for three years. In 2011-2012 school year, the wheel did not sort very many students into Rêveur, and so it became the smallest of the four Houses. But the staff House Leader, Ron Clark, rallied the students together and told them: “This year, because our House is smaller, we each have to be bigger. We each have to multiply ourselves this year!” And that was the year that Rêveur, despite being the smallest House, went on to win its first championship. This legend is now passed down to remind students that the size of the House is not as important as the size of the hearts and efforts of its members. Because of this back-and-forth rivalry between Altruismo and Rêveur, sometimes Rêveur can be found playfully crashing Altruismo’s holiday party!

TRADITIONS

Rêveur has a tradition of having a secret handshake that is passed down year after year, and no members from other Houses should ever know it. For your school or district’s first chapter of Rêveur, staff leaders should help students to come up with a special handshake, knowing that it will be passed down from there on in the House

Rêveur’s Hand Signal

House hand signals are used in meetings or gatherings, to rally around the House, encourage and support one another, or just for fun to show pride and spirit.

Rêveur’s hand signal is The Crescent Moons. To make this, we cup our hands into a “C” shape, hold them up, and cross our arms over our chests with the moons up. In a rally with other members of the house, we pump our arms three times with the signal — chanting “hup — hup — hup!” — and on the third time, everyone howls. Because when the moon comes out, the wolves come out

Rêveur’s Original Cheer

We encourage your school’s chapter of each House to choose a song and create lyrics for their own cheer, but we also would love to have you follow along with RCA’s original cheers for each of our Houses!

Rêveur chant is set to the instrumental version of “It’s Going Down” by Young Jok — we even have a little dance that goes along with it! You can watch and listen to the original cheer at: www.rcahousesystem.com/reveu