Still, students believe that houses shape their identity.
"It's important to be able to choose your house because it reflects who you are," says Alexandra Osceola, a sophomore in Pilot.
Students consider choice a privilege. For some, it marks the passage from the rigidity of elementary school to the freedoms and greater responsibilities of high school.
"The whole point of high school is choosing your own house," says Erica Miranda, a first-year in Fundamental.
"High school is a bigger experience and we have to take responsibility," says Sheila Pepin, also a first-year in Fundamental.
Choice also means that student can elect to be in the same house as their friends from elementary school. Randomization of house assignments will only "make a hard transition harder," says Greifinger-Clausner.
"Kids will always be angry when they aren't in a house with their friends," says Kiril Johnson, a junior in Pilot.
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