AGLA Students Build Community and Leadership Through New House System

What happens when high school seniors want more opportunities to mentor younger students?

At Aveson Global Leadership Academy (AGLA), you give them the opportunity to build something.

This year, students at Aveson Global Leadership Academy launched a new House system designed to bring middle and high school students together, build relationships across grade levels, and give our oldest students a meaningful opportunity to lead.

And yes, there’s also a House Cup on the line.

Building Houses, Building Community

The idea started with AGLA seniors who wanted more opportunities to mentor younger students. Aaron met with the seniors earlier in the school year to explore what that could look like, and the House system began taking shape.

Students across AGLA’s middle and high school grades are now grouped into Houses, with seniors taking an active role in helping bring their groups together.

The students have gotten to make the Houses their own, creating names, colors, chants, and identities. There’s the red-clad Birdhouse, represented by ducks, and the Golden House, represented by black panthers, with plenty of personality emerging as students continue to shape their House traditions.

After only a few House meetings, the friendly competition has already begun.

For one competition, students learned a traditional dance and then faced off in a House dance contest. More activities and competitions will happen throughout the school year as Houses work toward the ultimate prize: the House Cup and a trip to Knott’s Berry Farm.

Leadership With a Purpose

The House system is also giving AGLA students another way to practice something at the center of an Aveson education: leadership.

For seniors, being part of a House means younger students are looking to them. They have the opportunity to model how to communicate, collaborate, solve problems, and take responsibility for their community.

That accountability matters.

Leadership at AGLA happens through relationships. A senior sitting down with a middle school student to talk through a conflict can be just as meaningful as leading a meeting or winning a competition.

For younger students, the Houses provide something equally important: older students they know and trust.

Instead of middle school and high school existing as separate worlds on the same campus, students have a reason to get to know one another. Younger students gain real buddies they can talk to about problems and concerns, while older students learn what it means to have someone looking up to them.

Those relationships help create the kind of connected school culture Aveson works intentionally to build. AGLA was recently recognized with a Silver Award through California’s PBIS Recognition Program, reflecting the school’s continued focus on creating a positive, supportive environment for students. Learn more about PBIS and positive school culture at Aveson.

Creating a School Where Students Know Each Other

AGLA serves students in grades 6–12, which creates a unique opportunity for students to grow together across some pretty important years.

The House system gives students another way to make those connections happen.

A sixth grader can have a senior in their corner. A senior can discover that leadership sometimes means listening to someone younger. Students who might not normally interact have a reason to laugh together, compete together, solve problems together, and eventually build traditions together.

That sense of connection is part of what makes Aveson Global Leadership Academy’s approach to middle and high school different. Small classes, advisory, experiential learning, student voice, and leadership opportunities are all designed to help students feel known while developing the independence and confidence they’ll need beyond school.

The House system is still young, which means students have plenty left to create.

More meetings. More mentorship. More competitions. More traditions.

And, presumably, increasingly elaborate chants as the House Cup gets closer.

Interested in seeing AGLA for yourself? Aveson Global Leadership Academy is a tuition-free public charter school serving students in grades 6–12 in Pasadena, California. Families can learn more about AGLA, schedule a campus tour, or apply to Aveson Schools.