the total high school population was now approaching  the same committee which concluded that physical additions were needed also recommended a new organizational plan to prevent students from feeling depersonalized in such a large system what grew out of this was the house plan which in  divided columbia into four sub-schools of approximately  students each the goal was to provide the intimacy of a small school within a large plant and each of the houses had for example its own student council intramural athletic teams and newspapers all of these were in addition to the traditional school-wide activities