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Editor's Note: This story originally appeared in the Fall 2025 edition of Reflections.  Click here to read more stories from this issue.

Three Genesis Captains from the Class of 2017 serve today’s Carroll students as full-time faculty and staff members. They shared their memories of building the House System’s foundation, its evolution, and how their time as student leaders prepared them for careers in Catholic education.

Brooke Butler '17, Charity Genesis Captain and current Trinity House Member

Brooke Butler had no reservations about stepping into a leadership role, even one that was evolving with each new day.  With leadership positions as a section leader for the Marching Patriots, editing the Yearbook, and serving as an officer on Class Council and in National Honor Society, she felt prepared to help establish the House System as a Charity House Captain.

“I was comfortable in positions where I was expected to do more,” Butler said.  “I still feel like they put a lot of faith in us.” 

That investment of faith has paid off as Carroll enters the tenth year of the House System.  Butler and the other Captains spent much of the first year as ambassadors for the new program and defining what it meant to be a House Captain. With strong examples to follow, today’s Captains are able to focus on character and leadership development that helps the House System continue its growth.

“I’m really big on helping new people come in, and when old people leave, making sure the organization and its quality keep going,” Butler said.

That approach to leadership made Butler’s transition back to Carroll as the Assistant Director of Bands a smooth one.  As an alumna of both the Carroll music program and House System, she draws on her experience connecting with diverse groups of people to serve her students.

“The House System taught me about planning and being comfortable speaking with people who don’t necessarily share my interests.  It’s easy to be a leader in an organization where you share the same interests.  In this situation, you’re not bound by interests, you’re bound by fate.  It taught me how to connect with people who don’t share.”

Dana Koesters '17, Baltimore Genesis Captain and current Mercy House Member

Each group of House Captains is full of leaders, but the Class of 2017 were trailblazers.  Dana Koesters remembers that first year as one full of unknowns and learning.

“We were the guinea pigs.  We had no idea what was going on.”

All Captains learn leadership skills in real time because of the emphasis on planning ahead needed to succeed as the head of a Family Room. The responsibility of managing a classroom, adapting, and responding to unforeseen changes gave Koesters a headstart on her career in education. Thanks to her service as a Captain and total experience as a Carroll student, Koesters felt more prepared for college life at the University of Dayton than the other members of her cohort.  Koesters continues building new branches of community through the House System, now as a member of Mercy House when she returned to Carroll as a Spanish teacher in the 2023-24 academic year. She draws on her experience as a Genesis Captain with no previous examples to help new Captains find their footing at the start of each new year.

“It brings a better sense of community and inclusion to our school.  It gives seniors and juniors a chance to mentor the freshmen.”

Watching the House System grow into a vital part of the day for all students and witnessing students create their own legacy of leadership has been a rewarding experience for this Genesis Captain who embraced the unknown challenges of building its foundation.

Mitch Weitz '17, Baltimore House

Fostering an environment rooted in family values at Carroll was nothing new for Mitch Weitz.  The grandson of longtime English teacher Jim Hemmert and son of Bookstore Manager and Freedom Players Director Toni (Hemmert) Weitz ‘86 says he grew up at Carroll and jumped at the opportunity to write a new chapter in Carroll history.  Weitz led Baltimore Family Room 113 with fellow Captain Dana Koesters, another Genesis Captain whose vocation would bring her back to Carroll. Connecting familiar faces with their unfamiliar voices still stands out as Weitz’s favorite part of the House System’s inaugural year.

“I didn’t know most of the kids in my Family Room, but I was always outgoing and able to talk to people,” Weitz said.  “I still talk to people today that I was in a Family Room with, just because of those experiences.”

Today, Weitz takes care of our home at Carroll as a member of the facilities team and is still a proud member of Family Room 113 with its original adult mentors, Mr. Todd Tayloe and his mother, Toni.  He draws on his experience as one of the first Captains to foster relationships with current students.

“I get to see how these new Captains take over and help if they have any questions.  I can definitely tell when I show up that they’re excited. They grab me and pull me in, and I get to talk to everybody.  I’ve taken on a lot of roles in adulthood. In each one, I’ve found myself as a leader or somebody that can take charge, and it’s mostly because of the House System.”

Faith, Academics, and Community – these are the three pillars of the House System that have supported Archbishop Carroll High School for a decade now. When Carroll students step foot on campus, we’re called by name to take part in their House. Within these Houses is where a Carroll student becomes a Carroll Patriot and learns to use faith, academics, and community to become a better part of the world. My name is Ella Westgerdes, and Carroll’s House System inspired me to be a true Patriot through the communities we build and lead.

Allow me to set a scene: children are gathered around a table where they ask their counterparts to crack jokes and tell stories as their guardian pleads with them to clean up their mess. I’m sure that this scene might be reminiscent of your times of childhood, gathered beside your brothers and sisters, but it is also exactly what a day in Family Room looks like. When we call it “Family Room”, we mean it. Spending every day with the same students for four years can make you feel like they are your siblings.

When I talk to students of other schools, they seem surprised that Carroll gives up a half hour of precious time every day for the House System. I don’t think it should be surprising at all. I formed little families throughout the school with my friends, in my classes, and with teammates. None of these little families reflected the bond of a true, sometimes chaotic, family like our times in Family Room. Watching your classmates grow up and flourish at Carroll is truly a gift. It’s no secret that a lot of transformation happens between freshman and senior year, and I am so proud of my family room brothers and sister– Addison, Preston, Blake and Jack– for the Patriots they have become.

Not only does the House System provide comfort while at school, it helps us apply skills we learn in class to the community. Mr. Todd Tayloe and Mrs. Toni (Hemmert) Weitz ‘86, our Family Room Mentors, can vouch for me when I say that I was quiet and reserved as a freshman. Scared to seem too eager or stand out, I sat in the corner and only participated if necessary. After I realized that my House was there to support, not judge, I fully embraced Baltimore House. Soon enough, I became a Captain and tried my best to make Baltimore a place where students truly felt like they had a family. In other words, we made our Baltimore House a Baltimore Home.

The House System provides a space that students can call their home base. We grow our faith through service and prayer, practicing Catholic Social Teachings and bringing comfort to marginalized groups outside of the Carroll community. We support each other academically in helping tutor our family room classmates on academic days and keep each other accountable. And finally, we build communities that bring students of all different grades, sports, clubs, and academic abilities together to create chaotic, unique Family Rooms. I know that I will use the skills that I gained and the love that I learned in my next steps, always being a Carroll Patriot at heart.

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of Reflections.  Click here to read more stories from Reflections.

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of Reflections.  Click here to read more stories from Reflections.

It started as a chat.

Director of Mission Martha Saurine and former Social Studies teacher, Matt Normile, were discussing ways to enhance Patriot student experiences on campus. Normile, who had completed his student teaching work at Archbishop Moeller High School, had been exposed to a House System that the school had implemented. Seeing that this could be something that would benefit Patriot students, the idea of Carroll’s House System started to take form. When Normile and Saurine presented the idea to Principal Matt Sableski ‘91, he first responded with skepticism.

“I thought it was kind of a neat concept, but… I felt like we do a lot already,” recalled Sableski, “I wanted to make sure that the benefits for our students and community as a whole would outweigh the work effort that might have to go into this change.”

I knew Carroll was a special place that had special faculty and staff that could make it work. It just fits so beautifully into the philosophy of not only a Catholic school, but Carroll.

-House System Co-director Mrs. Martha Saurine

Though Sableski had concerns, he gave the green light to Normile and Saurine to create a research and development committee that would observe high schools who implemented similar systems in order to see if this was truly something that would benefit Patriot students. For the next year, teachers in teams of three spent time talking with and witnessing the administration, staff, and students in three specific high school House Systems closest to Dayton: Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, Ohio; Bishop Hartley High School in Columbus, Ohio; and Trinity High School in Louisville, Kentucky. After the school visits, teachers met to discuss their observations, the benefits of the structure, and the challenges that come with a house system. Though originally met with skepticism, Normile and Saurine were persistent. The benefits of this type of formation were too good to pass up at Carroll.

“The primary philosophy was that every kid belonged,” said Saurine, and she felt that this system only strengthened the Patriot family that Carroll already provides.  “I knew Carroll was a special place that had special faculty and staff that could make it work. It just fits so beautifully into the philosophy of not only a Catholic school, but Carroll.”

Sableski credits Normile and Saurine’s persistence and the principal from Bishop Hartley with his change of heart and ultimate approval of the House System implementation at Carroll. Said Sableski, “Bishop Hartley is a school that is very, very similar to Carroll, and he had a lot of really positive things to say about it, encouraged me to be patient, and told me to give it four years.” With the approval to begin the development stage, many teachers from the research and development team decided to take on the role of Deans of the various Houses. They, along with others who volunteered to become Deans, gathered at Indian Lake for a development and branding retreat. The center at Indian Lake provided a place for the team to focus on the rollout of the House System. It was here that the names of the Houses came to be as well. The team would quickly discover that Bishop Hartley’s principal was correct about being patient: the implementation of the House System was challenging and difficult.

“It’s a tremendous amount of work,” said Saurine, as she recalled all of the little details - student leadership roles, crests, colors, and more - that went into the development and implementation of those early years of the House System. “I don’t think we’ve done a year, two years in a row, (where) we’ve done exactly the same thing, but I like that. It’s a dynamic system.”

Added Sableski, “People should know how valuable our teachers and staff members have been throughout this process. Even though it’s student-led, the teachers and staff really had to come out of their comfort zones to embrace this and to help get this thing going. People wanted to see the value in this and wanted to make it work.” Because of that dedication, this system has evolved into something truly special. Saurine recalled that the first year of House competitions, students only cheered for their particular House. In more recent competitions, students cheer for each other, regardless of House affiliation. Said Saurine, “That gave me goosebumps, that they’re able to compete and celebrate each other at the same time.”

Though dynamic, the house system is rooted in three pillars: faith, academics, and community.

“We’re a Catholic educational institution, and so everything we do should be in the light of faith,” said Saurine. “So if we do those rigorous academics, it’s in the light of faith. And so, when we build community, it’s in the light of faith. We’re in the light of being a Catholic school.”

It’s in moments of community that both Saurine and Sableski see the biggest impact. In recent years, a couple of students have had parents pass away. At each of the viewings held, Carroll students’ Family Rooms went together to support the student at their time of need. While walking through the receiving line for one of the students, Sableski recalls that he heard the student call out “‘Hey, everybody, this is my family. This is my family.”

He then recalls that the student proudly explained to others at the viewing that these are people who she’s with every day at school. Sableski remembers that she then said, “They’re in my Family Room and I love them.”

What started out as a chat has become something that has become a unique part of the Patriot experience at Archbishop Carroll High School that will be talked about for years to come. “Even if we have people come in and want to know about House, it cannot be duplicated exactly in any other school because no other school is exactly Carroll,” states Saurine, “We have Deans and Family Room mentors who are so committed to making this place better and helping our students and service to our students, and the House System is just conducive to helping us serve our students better.”