Embrace Your House

Thursday represents the height of House pride and participation, as Housing Day excitement prompts students to wake up at the crack of dawn to don fish, penguin, and elephant costumes and rush the Yard. This annual custom ought to serve as a reminder—both to newly Housed freshmen and House veterans—actively to embrace the Houses.

For freshmen, Housing Day marks an opportunity to be part of a new, inherently diverse, built-in community. Though it can be easy to fall back on old friends from extracurriculars, freshman dorms, and especially from the same blocking group, House life offers an opportunity to forge friendships outside these relatively narrow confines. Branch out with the new experiences that are now available: Participate in House activities and intramural sports; consider joining the House Committee; have dinner with the House Masters. House life provides the chance to move outside the familiar, to meet and learn from others with different perspectives, interests, and worldviews.

That's why Housing Day should serve as a notice to freshmen and a reminder to upperclassmen to take advantage of the home that can exist within each House. For many, the transition to House life accompanies a loss of a close-knit entryway—a common complaint is that upperclassmen entryways lack the sense of community fostered in the Yard. But the entryway experience doesn't have to end freshman year. Students across classes can have it so long as they work to create the same communal spirit.

On the other end of the spectrum, it is just as important not to hinder others from participating fully in their Houses. Housing Day rumors are rampant enough that students often sit with a mix of dread and excitement as they await their assignments. Debates over the merits and shortcomings of each House simply prompt undue anxiety for blocking groups with no control over their eventual fate. Not only is this unproductive; but it is also absurd: In reality, many seniors say their own House is the best on campus.

The three Quad houses suffer the brunt of these misinformed stereotypes. It is unhelpful and unwarranted to put down the Quad without considering the numerous advantages of life in Cabot, Currier, or Pforzheimer—the spacious singles, the tight-knit communities, and the peaceful atmosphere. This also applies to the other houses: Discounting a House because of cockroach rumors or lamentations about how far it is from the Yard can be a barrier to enjoying a community. Crying over Mather (or inspiring a friend to do so) will only take away from a day meant for celebration.

While gearing up for Housing Day, remember that this day’s pomp represents how meaningful a House can be to a student’s identity at Harvard. Embracing House life and acknowledging that a House’s weaknesses mainly lie in people’s attitudes toward it can underscore the essential fact that a House’s most important assets are its inhabitants. Let us take to heart the spirit of Housing Day and immerse ourselves into our House communities, new and old alike.