It's that time of year- in all three cases if you count 70*F as winter.
Last Wednesday, we had nominations for Ruddock Hovse leadership positions. There was a great range of seriousness among the different positions- from the solemn declarations by the presidential candidates to the raps and skits performed by the social and athletic teams. I ran for the Athletics Team myself. Pretty much what the Ath. team does is help to organize the schedule for the variety of interhouse games throughout the year, and then get people from the house to show up.
My roommate ran for Social (Soc) Team- they organize house events during the school year such as the ski trip a few weeks ago.
There's also the BoC (Board of Control) and CRC (Conduct Review Committee), positions that entail dealing with cases of infractions against the Honor Code.
And you can't forget the Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice-President! The secretary and the treasurer hold pretty normal jobs, while the VP in Ruddock hovse takes care of alley competitions and organizing formal dinners. Alley competitions are simply organized events between two alleys, and they can get very creative. Last term we had pirates versus ninjas capture the flag played in the Millikan pond.
I'm sure there's more positions in each of the houses, but those are the basic ones. As a general note, the house system is what I think really makes Caltech a unique place besides its top of the line education. Being in a group of people who share similar interests from the very beginning of college helps one to acclimate, and the integration of freshman among the upper classmen of the house is in one word awesome. We aren't lost to wallow in the newness of college life, where we may make a mistake for lack of guidance, instead the upper classmen help us to learn the ways of Caltech. There are designated Upper Classmen Councilors, but it's great to be able to knock on most doors in the house and say.. ask a question about the internship they had last summer. Or how to get into that one class. Or anything at all really.
OPI (Our Private Interhouse)
Ruddock's interhouse party is called OPI for short, and we have already begun construction. This year's theme is paradise lost- or as close to it as we can get. We'll be building a crashed plane and a volcano as the big attractions I believe. However, we have only just gotten the dance floor started.
We have a time-lapsed camera going on throughout construction and I'll be sure to post the video when it becomes available, as well as update with pictures every once in a while.
On Friday, the student body Social Team had organized for an ice rink to be set up in one of the parking lots. Well after a whole week of being really excited for actual ice (I mean, couldn't we have somehow figured out how to get an outdoor ice rink in 60* weather?) it turns out that the "ice" was some sort of slippery plastic polymer. Needless to say, I was severely disappointed. Perhaps next year they'll just rent out the indoor rink near Caltech. I'd definitely go for that.
That's all for now!
-Teo
