Whittall House 1

2 September 2020Will McNeill, Whittall House Captain, ‘20

The ‘19-’20 school year will be one for the Whittall history books. Although the year didn’t finish as planned, we wouldn’t change anything about our time together. We started off the year with a strong Whittall-Alex performance at the annual Fun & Games & topped the night off with brother-sister house bonding & plenty of sundaes. The rest of Orientation was a blur of dodgeball, field games & turning 26 strangers into Whittall family.

What these new Whittall boys did not expect when first walking through our doors is how close they would become with one another & how important they would be as part of the house. Throughout our year, we upheld Whittall traditions such as our classic Saturday night BBQs with boys like Ocean & Lorenzo offering their culinary expertise leading to many memories of late-night talks in the common room. Nobody can forget the familiar shouts of our new Assistant Houseparent, Ms Pettit, calling for a house meeting & the boys seeing how far they could push her buttons. Grade 12s led Big Bros on Tuesday nights, providing pizza & activities ranging from the impossible situp to advice about girls.

The brotherhood created this year was one that no Whittall boy took for granted & was tested during the uncertain times of the pandemic. While none of us missed the rats, we missed each other, keeping our spirits up with weekly house meetings & Big Bros. This year would not have been possible without the man that somehow manages to hold the house together, Mr Gage, who kept us humble with his ironic remarks & helpful advice. On top of this, we had the duo of Ms Pettit & Mr Veenema who put up with more than their fair share of late nights & all the other eventful moments that come with living in a house full of boys.

It’s going to be hard saying goodbye to Whittall after all these years, but every boy who has been through Whittall, like me, knows the true meaning of brotherhood & what it’s like to have a home away from home.

Will McNeill, Whittall House Captain, ‘20

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