participation points

Hey, I’m dorming at UC in Sir Daniels Residence. What’s all this about house points? I have to be a social butterfly to be able to dorm next year?

Seems a little disproportionately skewed towards high energy extroverts, which I certainly am not, but I’m from out of province and need Res.

I was put in ‘Hutton House’, what does that mean? Am I a Slytherin or a Hufflepuff in this scenario? What’s the point and significance of this division?

Thanks for answering.

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hey there,

i’ve never lived at res in UC, so I can’t speak personally to the experience of living there. i can’t guarantee that you’re going to enjoy it, or that the ‘House Points’ system they have works.

however, i have been heavily involved in res life at UofT (i’m gonna withhold the specific college because you’re all NOSY BUGGERS), and what i can say is that it’s not just for extroverts.

as an introvert myself, i hate “participation” events. i picked a job that allows me to write anonymously on the internet and never interact with people directly, which says something about me.

every True Colours, MBTI, astrology or augury test i’ve ever taken has told me i’m the most introverted introvert to ever exist.

thing is, res life folks are aware that introverts exist. a lot of us are introverts. we want to create events that everyone will enjoy.

from what I can see, UC’s house points system provides you with a wide range of opportunities to get involved. not all of them require you to talk to lots of people and be very high-energy. for example, attending house meetings?pretty much just requires you to show up and listen quietly.

working or volunteering on campus, writing for the Gargoyle, being a crewmember with the UC Follies, participating in dragonboat – these are all things that don’t fit the traditional image of residence life participation. also, not all your floor events will be very high energy. sometimes it’s just a board games night on a weekday evening, or your don will bake cookies and invite people over. not hard to say yes to.

also, getting involved with school generally makes you feel more invested in school, which in turn makes you more invested in schoolwork, which will get you the grades that will make the $15 000 you forked out for tuition and residence fees at least partially worth it.

as for the significance of being in Hutton House versus other houses – i don’t really know the culture of that floor, and neither will you, until you join it. however, it’s not going to be drastically different from other floors on Sir Dan, or even from the rest of the UC residences at large. you probably weren’t placed there for any monumentally significant reason.

i doubt any house will be so different from another as to warrant a Slytherin/Hufflepuff distinction. it’s just a way of dividing people up into small communities; more like different rooms within a Gryffindor dormitory than different corners of the castle.

small floors make it easier to run events and make friends. also, every floor/house will have one or two dons assigned to it. these are upper-year students who are responsible for taking care of their specific floor/house. it’s a pretty good system.

so that’s my pitch for being involved in res. at the end of the day, if you absolutely HATE everything the college has to offer in terms of residence and student life, then you won’t get involved, you probably won’t be readmitted to res, and you would be free to look for off-campus housing, which wouldn’t require you to participate in anything but rent payments.

best of luck, and i really hope you enjoy UC!

cheers,

aska

P.S. best drop the habit of saying ‘dorm’ now. say ‘residence’ instead. you’ll thank me, trust.