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Posted on 4.2.25
The screams of competition filled the halls of Esperanza Global Academy on March 27 as the school’s four Ron Clark Academy House teams began their quarterly contest. Students ran through a series of games, cheering on their teams as well as the others.
“At the Ron Clark Academy, one of the biggest values they have is that we cheer for everyone,” said Candice Stofira, dean of students and emcee for the competition. “We tell our kids that yes, we are four houses, but we are one school.”
Esperanza is a Title I school geared for immigrant students who are predominantly from Latin and Central America. Now in its second year, the school serves pre-K through fifth grade students, 80% of whom are from other countries. From the beginning, Principal Angela Grant and her staff decided that the RCA House System would set the right tone for the new school.
“Esperanza is special because it’s a place of hope,” Grant said. “We’re helping kids learn and do things that people may not even believe is possible for them.”
In the house system, she said students learn to work together and earn points along the way. Being in a house fosters a strong sense of community and has also helped improve attendance.
“We wanted this to be who we were first and foremost,” Stofira said. “We wanted our culture to be right, because then our academics would be right. We focus on building social-emotional learning with our kids. We want them to belong and feel seen and welcome. So once a quarter, we gather with our entire second through fifth grade student body. They’ve been sorted into the four Ron Clark houses – Altruismo, Amistad, Isibindi and Reveur – and we just have good old-fashioned fun. We compete, some people earn points. We highlight people who have really embodied the values of our school, and then we go on about our business, and the kids love it.”
Second grade students are sorted into their houses in the morning on the first day of school. They spin the sorting wheel in the media center, then they run to the gym to meet the older students who are already in their house. Kindergartners and first graders are in training to be in one of the four houses and are in House Jaguar, which represents the whole school. Newly enrolled students are sorted, no matter the date they arrive.
“We make a big deal about it,” Stofira said. “As soon as they get here, we sort them so that they have a place to land and feel like they belong from the very first minute they walk through the doors.”
