Noblesse oblige, or “nobility obligates,” stands as the official motto for the National Honors Society. Put simply, it represents the organization’s tenets of the importance of giving back to a person’s community and earning a status of nobility from actions, not simply words. At Revere, this motto rings true in the chapter’s elected board in their work to organize NHS, mobilize volunteering efforts, and give back to Revere through the Winter Dance.

Each board member must manage both their individual responsibilities as well as leading a committee of students focused on a particular task. 

NHS President Laura Arockiasamy holds meetings with the NHS board every Friday.

“We meet every Friday in order to plan what each committee in NHS will do. There’s a dance committee, a fundraising committee, an induction committee, [and more],”Arockiasamy said. 

Each committee fulfills a different purpose in NHS and is each led by at least one board member. Arockiasamy leads the induction committee.

“The induction committee is responsible for sending out information for prospective students who want to be in NHS and also getting the induction ceremony ready,” Arockiasamy said. 

The other committees include the dance committee and a dual-led volunteer committee.

“The dance committee is organizing the dance that NHS hosts in February, which this year is a Valentine’s Day theme. The volunteer committee is responsible for volunteering. It’s kind of how NHS helps out in the community,” Arockiasamy said.

Arockiasamy explains why she decided to run for the position of president.

“I’ve always been a leadership-oriented person. When I got elected, it was [about] being approachable and getting on an even level with everyone in the NHS group,” Arockiasamy said.

As president, Arockiasamy has a certain level of veto power over some decisions.

“I have a lot of decision-making when it comes to different events that we hold. If I don’t like something, we don’t have to do it that way,” Arockiasamy said.

For NHS, the dance has a dual purpose: fun and fundraising. 

“[The dance] is like a bonding moment for NHS. Anyone can go, and it’s an opportunity to raise money. All of the funds that we raise go towards NHS scholarships,” Arockiasamy said.

Arockiasamy describes the role of the Vice President, which this year is held by Drake Du.

“[Du] honestly helps me out a lot. We share a lot of things. If I need to make a decision, I’ll usually talk to him first. He initiates a lot of volunteer opportunities,” Arockiasamy said.

When planning for funding RHS’ NHS chapter, the board meets together to strategize for the larger group meetings.

“When it’s just the board, we decide when we’re going to meet next with the bigger group. Usually it’s in the library, and we talk about fundraising opportunities,” Arockiasamy said. 

In order to participate in NHS, members must have a certain number of volunteer hours.

“We go over volunteer opportunities and ways to fulfill [the requirement]. In December we met with the juniors, freshmen and the sophomores to talk about how you get into NHS,” Arockiasamy said.

Arockiasamy’s favorite aspect of being on the NHS board is the sense of leadership.

“I like being on the board because I feel like I can communicate with people better. It’s a sense of leadership and pride,” Arockiasamy said.

Du co-leads the volunteer committee along with Luca Celiberto and organizes volunteering opportunities for NHS members.

“There are two volunteer committees, but we kind of function as a joint team. I co-lead the volunteer committee, and so in that capacity I organized our first group volunteering event at the Richfield Heritage Preserve. That’s where we assisted [in the] maintenance of the park,” Du said.

While running for the position of Vice President, Du was committed to the position.

“Last year I stuck with VP, I didn’t go for any other roles. There were dropdowns allowed, but I only ever thought about running for VP,” Du said.

Du attends the Friday meetings along with the other officers to organize and share ideas.

“I also help plan our meetings and events at our officer meetings. I work with the other officers around every Friday morning to talk about what’s going on and what we need to plan,” Du said.

Du designed the Valentine’s Day flyers posted in the hallways.

“I spent a lot of time on it, and I really like the result,” Du said.

 As Vice President, Du has additional responsibilities with assisting other officers.

“I assist the other three officers with their work and whether that be the content of a message that they want sent out to the whole group or for example the sharing permissions of a Google Sheet, I’m there to support and look over and help and assist in any way I can,” Du said.

Du enjoys most the sense of purpose from helping to serve multiple levels of communities.

“The whole purpose of NHS is to help out our community, whether it’s our school community or the greater Richfield community. Being able to do that as an officer and work for that purpose is really fulfilling,” Du said.

Du appreciates the community of NHS as a whole.

“What makes it really great is we have a lot of amazing people in the club, not just the officers but as a whole. It’s really great to work with different people and be able to help and give back to the community,” Du said. 

Though all NHS board members are set to graduate in the spring, Du signals new changes ahead for the next set of officers.

“This year, I think Mr. Fisher wants the roles to be structured a little differently just to be more clear about what the division of work is,” Du said.

 As a co-leader of the volunteer committee, Du often reaches out to various organizations that might offer opportunities for NHS.

“We ask if [the organizations] need help and if they would want volunteers, and if so, if they would like a large group of volunteers. What we really like to do is have volunteer events with the whole group, just to bring a lot of different people together for a common purpose,” Du said.

Du believes that there is strength in numbers and aims to get as many NHS members to volunteer as possible.

“We think that’s a really great way to get people excited about volunteering [. . .] there’s more people you can meet, and it’s more exciting overall,” Du said. 

Jacob Looman is NHS’ secretary and performs various duties according to this role.

“On the board, I’m in charge of the fundraising of the dance, and I take attendance for all the meetings, helping pass out papers,” Looman said.

Looman also leads the dance committee, which serves to prepare for the Valentine’s Day dance. Looman is responsible for reaching out to many different sources of information, like the DJ for this year’s winter dance.

“Most of my job has been trying to prepare for this dance. I never had any idea how much went into planning a dance. I had to go out and find the DJ; I had to call them. I had to make sure we got the purchase order, then I had to go to the teacher. I had to talk with Mr. Peltz and Mr. Faris about the dance: what are the guidelines? I had to talk to Dressler about safety,” Looman said.

While deciding what position to run for, Looman originally decided on the role he now holds.

“I originally wanted [the position of] secretary. I heard about the election a few days beforehand. I’ve never held a position on a bigger thing like class council or student council. I ended up running, and I did win, surprisingly,” Looman said.

As secretary, Looman is in charge of taking attendance at each meeting.

“Every meeting I have to go and put out a sheet and a pencil, everybody signs it, and then I bring it home, write down everybody that was there, take a picture of it just to make sure,” Looman said. 

Looman joined NHS last year, in his junior year.

“I was in [NHS] last year, but we only got in halfway through the year when it was under Mr. King. I like the organization that we have this year,” Looman said.

Looman enjoys leading the dance committee for various reasons.

“I feel like I’m comfortable leading a committee, and it’s smaller so I feel like it’s more personal. My favorite part is meeting with my committee, discussing what good ideas they have for the dance. We’ve had to meet more frequently to discuss certain things about the dance,” Looman said.

Looman believes that NHS has been successful this year.

“I think that overall, as NHS, we’ve been doing a great job so far this year. We’ve been getting good attendance and the volunteering events we’ve done so far have been great,” Looman said.

Through their efforts both individually and together, the NHS board embodies the motto of nobility through actions that give back to both Revere and the larger community.