In this lesson, we’ll be covering extracurriculars: the many fun things to do around HOL that don’t involve class work.
The Art and Library Departments offer fun projects to get involved in every month. Each project is worth between 10-30 house points. Projects currently alternate, so one month there will be an art project and the next month, a library project.
People of every skill level are encouraged to take part so you should definitely try it out, even if you feel like a beginner right now. Your submission will be anonymous until voting is over.
You can also take part by rating and providing constructive feedback on other people’s submissions. Rather than earning points, rating/commenting earns you beans (more on those later!). Remember to be kind, considerate and helpful when providing advice.
The Library Department focuses on the wonder of the written word. For each project, you'll be asked to write something that fits the prompt, whether it’s a short story or something totally different.
The Art Department is the home for visual artworks of every description. Whether you enjoy drawing or photography, you're sure to find a project that sparks your imagination.
The Art and Library Departments are overseen by a team of department heads: Emily Spencer, Janne Halla, and Silvana Mandeville.
Quidditch matches on HOL are live events which take place on chat and involve answering Harry Potter trivia questions. The Quidditch Committee are in charge of overseeing the game and organizing matches. To find out more about the current quidditch season, visit the Quidditch forum on the HOL Forum.
You can also flip through stats from previous matches in the Quidditch Department but be aware that the game has been massively updated recently and now works quite differently to how it did when those matches happened.
Attention budding reporters! HOL's Newspaper is a school-wide project and comes out regularly during the year.
You can earn house points by writing articles, creating graphics, making puzzles and submitting your creative work. Alternatively, you could just sit back with a glass of pumpkin juice and browse the latest issue.
The editors for The Howler include Prof. Sky Alton (Editor in Chief), Aquaria Sandalwood, Lex Green, and Prof. Maxim Trevelyan (Assistant Editors).
To find out more, visit the main HOL Forum.
Activities are special events that are organised around the site. They usually run for a few weeks and involve fun themed tasks that you need to complete. Some of them will offer house points. They’re a great way to collect beans and awards too!
Look under Current Activities on the HOL Forum to see if there are any going on right now and make sure you regularly check for announcements on the homepage.
The Book Club (as you might expect) is where discussions about all things literary take place. You can post your own book reviews, take part in discussions and enjoy the regular book related activities organised by the club staff. There are always plenty of beans and awards up for grabs...
Beans are used as currency here on HOL. You can earn them by earning house points (10 points = 1 bean), being active around the site and by taking part in certain activities. Please note that pestering other people to give you beans is discouraged.
Right now, the only thing you can do with beans is feed other people’s pets. We’re hopeful that the other bean-related features (like the pet shop) will be up and running soon. In the meantime, it’s still worth saving them up so you’re ready!
You can send beans to another person by visiting their profile and clicking on the 'Send Beans' icon.