Members of the National Honor Society (NHS) walk through the trails of the Richfield Heritage Preserve, bettering their community one piece of trash at a time. Members take down Halloween decorations, pick up trash at the beginning of November and begin preparing for their Winter Formal. In a month, NHS will set up decorations and book a DJ for the fun-filled night. These events are just a few examples of what NHS brings to the Revere and local communities.
NHS is open to students grades ten through twelve across the nation who excel in every aspect of their school career. From grades, to service, to involvement in school activities, members of the group take part in planning and carrying out community service events, as well as in school events.
Each prospective NHS member has to send an application to join the group. If the applicants are approved, they are inducted into the club during the annual induction ceremony, which takes place in March. Principle Dr. Andy Peltz described the characteristics of the students in the National Honor Society.
“National Honor Society is a national organization that not only acknowledges students who achieve certain levels of academic success, but also stands for the five pillars of what NHS stands for. So things like character, citizenship, leadership, [scholarship and service], across the board,” Peltz said.
The process of acceptance into the club starts with an evaluation of the student’s character. Adviser Paul Fisher and a committee of other teachers evaluate the student applicant to make sure there are no instances of academic dishonesty and make sure that the student has no severe disciplinary action. Fisher spoke on the application process.
“There’s an application process. . . when you’re a sophomore or a junior. That [process] happens in December and/or January. Those [are] due after the first semester [of school] ends, and then there’s a committee of teachers who look at the applications and make the decision,” Fisher said.
Peltz reiterated the importance of every level of the application process.
“Academic integrity is very important, making sure there’s never any sort of cheating or plagiarism. A certain GPA, number of volunteer hours and then student engagement [is taken into account] as well. So you must be involved in not just one activity, but really invested in it,” Peltz said.
Neal Pannala, vice president of NHS, spoke on the application process from the student perspective.
“[Applicants] tell them how many volunteer hours you’ve previously had, you tell them what classes you’ve taken . . . and you tell them about what other clubs you’re in,” Pannala said.
Once students are inducted, they can choose to take on a position of office. These members plan and organize community service events and school wide events. The community service acts include picking up trash in local parks and volunteering their time at community events. The members execute these events multiple times throughout the school year. Fisher listed the committee positions and their roles in the NHS.
“We’ve got a president and vice president; those are traditional roles for those two. . . . We’ve got three different committee chairs. They’re in charge of the volunteer activities, membership and fundraising activities,” Fisher said.
Additional roles include secretary and treasurer. Pannala discussed the committee heads and the specific responsibilities of each role.
“We have three different branches for the NHS. We have the fundraising committee, which is our [winter] dance committee, we have our volunteer committee, then we have our induction committee. Our induction committee plans our NHS induction [ceremony] every February where new members get inducted, our dance committee organizes the dance and our volunteering committee organizes volunteer opportunities that we try to do two, three times a year,” Pannala said.
The school wide events include the Winter Formal and the annual National Honor Society Induction Ceremony. While NHS members play a big role in planning these events, members of other school clubs, such as the recycling club, take part in planning the Winter Formal as well. Pannala spoke about event planning, specifically the Winter Formal.
“We’re trying to have some sort of conservation effort to go behind it. So this year NHS is partnering up with the Recycling Club. Recycling Club will get a part of the profits that we generate from the dance and then those profits will then be donated towards conservation efforts,” Pannala said.
The two groups try to explore an environmentally friendly aspect inside of an exciting night of dancing. The two groups will join together to make the Winter Formal the best it can be.
“It makes my heart very happy to see so many organizations built on community service and giving back. So I think that’s at the core of NHS, that there is [an] amount of volunteer hours that are expected. So organizations like Recycling Club; kids that come together just to try to do positive things for the community. The NHS is just another group that records a certain number of volunteer hours and it’s great to see a lot of those same types of kids involved in multiple organizations,’’ Peltz said.
Community service groups continue to help the Revere community and local community grow. NHS has been active in the community for years. The members recently finished a volunteer event for Richfield locals. Pannala spoke briefly about this event.
“We just came off of a volunteering event, actually, where we volunteered at the Richfield Heritage Preserve. We cleaned up some trash off the trails and helped take down Halloween decorations,” Pannala said.
These are just a few examples of what National Honor Society does for the community outside of the school environment. National Honors Society highlights student achievements and allows their actions to be recognized. For more information about NHS, contact Paul Fisher.
Click HERE for more Lantern coverage on accomplished students.
