Shalom
House President: Melissa Shephard
Shalom House is one of the original residence hall houses that began in the fall of 1962 and was among the first group of houses to select a name in October of that year. The name is a Hebrew term conveying the meanings of "peace be yours", "hello", "goodbye", and "welcome home". Patti Roach suggested the name, inspired by the popular musical Fiddler on the Roof and the various meanings of "shalom".
Shalom House was initially located on the second floor of Walker Hall. Early on, house colors were green and white and its symbol was a four-pointed star, with each point representing the spiritual, athletic, social, and academic areas of life.
Shirley Bigham (Lancaster, Ohio) was Shalom's first house president.Shalom and Dimora were the first houses to reside in the second-phase west wing of Tess Morgan Hall when it opened in the fall of 1966.
In the fall of 1980, Shalom and its brother house Tiona introduced the "TV Dinner", in which members of the two houses cross dress and have supper together at the Commons. (The "TV" is short for "transvestite".) Although the brother-sister house pairings change each year, the activity developed into an annual tradition between both houses, with Shalom continuing to meet with Tiona's successor, Orion House.
After several years at different locations, Shalom moved to the middle floor of Tess Morgan Hall's north wing in the fall of 1997. Shalom remained there for two years until relocating to the main and second floors of Walker Hall in the fall of 1979. With the closure of Walker Hall after the spring of 1985, Shalom moved back to Tess Morgan's north wing on the top floor.
Lyrics to the Shalom House song:
Shalom, Shalom, you'll find Shalom,
The nicest greeting you know.
It means "bonjour", "salute", and "skoal",
And twice as much as "hello".
It means a million lovely things,
Like "peace be yours" - "welcome home".
And even when you say "goodbye",
If your voice has "I don't want to go" in it,
Say goodbye with a little hello in it,
And say goodbye with "Shalom".
Shalom, Shalom, we've found Shalom,
Our home while we're on the hill.
It's filled with love and tears and joy,
And friends that stay with us till,
We've seen a million lovely smiles,
And fostered friendships anew,
And even when we say goodbye,
Though we know we must go,
Still we'll always be,
Sisters forever to stay are we
We're always part of Shalom.
