Revere High School (RHS) hosted the National Honor Society’s (NHS) annual induction ceremony to welcome the recently accepted members and honor the seniors’ dedication to the program.
The National Honor Society is a club that sophomores and juniors can apply to, requiring dedication to their academics and community. NHS represents who students are as people through their academics, extracurricular activities, and involvement in their community. The society embodies academic honesty and leadership. NHS looks for students who maintain a strong academic record, demonstrate community service, express strong leadership qualities, and showcase good character. Past teachers are references for every student who applies, and what they say impacts one’s acceptance. Since the NHS has a rigorous application process, it holds an induction ceremony to congratulate the new members and demonstrate the requirements for joining the program. The induction ceremony also showcases the seniors in NHS to recognize their accomplishments in the club.
Science teacher Paul Fisher has been the advisor of NHS at Revere for the last four years but has been involved in the program for many years at other schools. Preparing for new members’ acceptances and organizing the induction ceremony’s many events requires lots of planning.
“We’ve been talking about this ceremony all year. Kavana [Lokesh] is a person who’s been leading our team of NHS members [and] working on what this is going to look like. . . . [The NHS leaders have] been working on it [for] a long time, so it should be a good time,” Fisher said.
The induction ceremony is an event NHS members spend all year organizing and preparing for. The ceremony has significant meaning to the members and is essential to welcoming new members while sending off the seniors. The ceremony contains speeches from faculty members to NHS officers to recognize every member, from sophomores to seniors.
“We’ll do a quick introduction from Mr. Faris. . . . [and] Mr. White, our superintendent, is going to speak a little bit about the pillars of the NHS. . . . Our officers will give some short speeches and light some candles,” said Fisher.
The candle-lighting portion of the ceremony is significant because it represents the responsibilities and commitment of NHS members to the club. Senior Camryn Bir has been in NHS for three years and is also vice-president of the club. Bir admires the tradition of lighting the candles and finds it very important when inducting new members. Bir has learned a lot from the NHS and has grown from all the experiences it has taught her.
“One of my favorite traditions . . . is the candle lighting. The candles symbolize the pillars of National Honor Society, which is character, scholarship, leadership, and service, and every year, the officers speak about one of these pillars and light the corresponding candle. . . . NHS is really important to me because it’s a way to recognize students as role models of integrity and hard work among their peers,” Bir said.
Senior Kavana Lokesh is the membership chair of NHS and plays a significant role in organizing the ceremony. Lokesh oversees when everyone will speak and where everyone will be during the ceremony. The candle ceremony and a run-through of where everyone will be sitting are practiced to ensure everything goes smoothly and is successful. Lokesh finds the NHS a good way of motivating students to get involved and volunteer in the community.
“We have a practice sit-down to see where everyone is, and then we practice the lighting ceremony. . . . There’s a script we read every year. . . . I think NHS is really good for encouraging people to volunteer; you meet a lot of new people, so I think it’s really great,” Lokesh said.
The induction ceremony congratulates new members on their acceptance and is a way to send off seniors who have dedicated some of their high school years to the NHS. It is a very significant event for NHS members and Fisher to recognize the meaning of the club.
