National Honor Society is a long standing school program that spotlights high-achieving students for their achievements. Students are rewarded for both academic achievements and for service hours, extra-curricular involvement, and GPA. The National Honor Society (or NHS for short) was founded in 1921 with the support of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). Today, the NHS has grown to more than 16,000 active chapters across the nation, and our school’s chapter is just one of those many robust chapters, striving to reach our motto of academic growth for all students everyday.
On October 25th, 2023, junior and senior students selected for induction into NHS gathered together in the Martin Marietta Theatre to walk across the brightly lit stage and sign their name into our school’s history. Our NHS chapter is run by Mrs. Melanie Seimer and currently consists of the Exec Board of Aaliyah Rust, Aalysah Rust, Lauren Loos, and Sam Pettinger. These four students spoke throughout the ceremony on the values and importance of NHS. When asked what made them want to join NHS, senior Lauren Loos stated “For my college applications,” senior Sam Pettinger echoed this statement saying, “I joined NHS because I was interested in community involvement and I knew college thought highly of applicants who were involved in this program,” showing the overall benefit of NHS for post high school plans. Both Loos and Pettinger also mentioned the unique opportunity of tutoring students our school offers to NHS students, with Pettinger expressing, “I was able to tutor some students and help them exceed in certain classes without [them] having to pay for assistance.”
After being inducted, there are several things that NHS students do throughout the school year. For example, each student in NHS is required to do at least ten service hours each year, as well as completing two morning sessions of peer tutoring. This helps students to keep up on the leadership values they were inducted into. In addition, students are required to keep a high GPA or their membership in NHS could be put into reconsideration.
Does NHS sound like something you’d like to join? You can join starting your junior year if you have a GPA of 3.5 or higher. You can get an invitation with an application to fill out with each of the categories mentioned at the beginning of this article. So, if NHS sounds like something in your future, make sure to keep your grades up, get lots of service hours, and join in lots of extra curriculars.
