National Honor Society Induction at SHS

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Sandwich Learns Together/ SPS in Celebrate SPS!

by Ms. Margie Luck, SHS teacher, National Honor Society Advisor

People may wonder about the process of being a National Honor Society member.

Dr. Ellin Booras appoints the Faculty Council, made up of between 5 and 7 teachers and often one counselor, to serve each year. The minimum grade point average to be invited to apply to NHS at Sandwich High School is a 3.3.

Twice per year (once in the fall, for seniors, and once in the spring, for juniors), invitations go out. Most people who receive invitations apply and they have about a month to put together a nice presentation showcasing how well they fit the NHS standards or pillars.

The four pillars of NHS are scholarship, leadership, character, and service.

The faculty council meets after I have solicited feedback from faculty members about each candidate, and they spend a day going through the applications. There is healthy debate and always very respectful. After that, students are notified by mail whether or not they made it into the honor society; if they did not, they are invited to come talk to me as a non-voting party who took notes on what the council had to say. This way, for example, if a student is a little short on leadership or service, she or he can hopefully address this perceived deficiency during the summer and then reapply, as a senior, in the fall.

I tell students who are interested in applying that it is a GREAT way to get used to selling themselves – talk about a wonderful preparation for the college application process that is quickly approaching for juniors! It also forces students to think about the various experiences they’ve had using a leadership or service lens, and to categorize these experiences.

This is the end of my fifth year of advising the SHS Glass Chapter of the National Honor Society, and each year I am recharged by working with students who give of their time, are incredibly well-rounded, are fun, and who seek challenges and opportunities to enhance their leadership potential while serving others and their community.

Just listening to Dr. Booras describing each new NHS member, some of whom had donned sports uniforms for SHS that very afternoon and still “cleaned up” extremely well for the 7 pm ceremony, simply humbled me. I very much look forward to working with the 32 new members, who are talented scholars, athletes, musicians, thespians, dancers, and BKP (Blue Knight Pride) ambassadors next year!

You can read & download Dr. Booras’s tribute to each new member here: National Honor Society May 2015

Congratulations to the newly inducted members of the National Honor Society – members of the class of 2016:

Abigail Bates

Nora Biron

Jenny Broder

Matthew Brooks

Helen Colwell

Maeve Connolly

Madison Cuppels

Brady Doherty

Thatcher Drake

Madeline Esdale

Philicia Henderson

Thomas Kelleher

Lindsay Lawrence

John MacLeod

Fiona Naples

Christina O’Neil

Hannah Paige

Jeffrey Polidor

Lily Reynolds

Emily Robinson

Kaitlyn Scott

Sara Serdy

Emily Sholi

Sarah Simmons

Elizabeth Siranosian

Jenna Sweeney

Hansol Tice

Elizabeth Wegman

Hailey Whelan

Carly Whittle

Andrew Wilson

Hannah Wright

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