Page 17 - FIS World November 2016

The eight houses held separate “spirit-animal” elections and the winning submissions were: fox, wolf, dragon, gri n, peacock, phoenix, tiger and eagle. The Hinkley house chose a tiger to complement its blue and white colors. According to Genes United, a heraldry website, the tiger symbolizes great erceness and valor when enraged to combat, and the blue symbolizes truth and loyalty.
Ella Doveton, a senior at FIS, is credited with creating the striking fantasy-bird on the Nielson crest. She described in great detail her unique and noble bird. “The animal is intended to combine features of a butter y, including marked, glassy feathers, and a bird of prey, so as to combine ideals of dignity, kindness and the ephemeral with courage, endurance and longevity.” She added, “Everyone is di erent. I hoped to include vital opposites for a balanced set of values everyone can relate to.”
Doveton’s e ort to create a creature that everyone in Nielson House can
Upper School students showing house pride during the Stroth Center’s opening ceremony and Upper School activity days.
relate to is demonstrative to the overall goal of the FIS Upper School House Program. “The value of the house program is vertical. It integrates all students within a house from Grade 12 down through Grade 6,” said Mr. Sinclair. “The unique crest created by each house is something they can all relate to,” he added. “They made it.” According to Mr. Sinclair, he has seen many great examples of students across Upper School grades integrating within houses, and bene ting from the experiences of learning from and supporting each other.
Mr. Trebel recalled hearing a cheer at a recent Upper School activity, “The gri n is here. It’s going to get you!” shouted over and over. “La Clair House’s unity behind the gri n is great,” he said. “We are going to do more and more at FIS to encourage that kind of house spirit.”
Emmett Kelly FIS Parent
November 2016 FIS World 15