Service, character, leadership and scholarship are the four pillars of National Honors Society. They teach each member a new life skill and show them a new meaning of service. According to NHS Advisor Joseph Loffredo, each member must hold a 3.7 GPA, have no detentions and can only join if they are invited to get in to the organization. When a new member joins the National Honors Society, they are required to do at least 20 hours of service and complete a group project in the community.
Senior Adalia Tate feels like National Honors Society has taught her many important leadership skills that she can use in the future.
“At different events I gained public speaking skills and leadership skills and more awareness about what’s going on around me compared to when I was growing up,” Tate said.
Senior Sean O’Hara has been in National Honors Society since he was a junior and has worked his way up to being an officer; he feels like it comes with great responsibility.
“NHS has taught me a lot of responsibility because, along with my schoolwork I know I have at least 10 extra hours of service to do each year,” O’Hara said. “It teaches you really about time management and deadlines and making sure you get ahead of the deadlines and other due dates.”
Senior Zaina Hussain, who is president of the National Honors Society, uses the four pillars of NHS in her daily life to be the best she can possibly be.
“I use character in my daily life because every single member of NHS needs to represent themselves as a very humble leader,” Hussain said. “They can represent it in their classrooms and outside of school. With the scholarship, that is one where it doesn’t necessarily mean college scholarships, it could mean doing your best work and being rewarded for it.”
Since service is a pillar of the organization, students in NHS can expect to participate in the community outside of school.
“An NHS member has to complete 10 hours of volunteer work [a semester],” Hussain said. “Those 10 hours go long way because they can help the community, for example packing the food for the homeless or helping them out at the senior center. There are over 150 members right now so if each of them do 10 hours of service it really can help the community out.”
National Honors Society just doesn’t affect the members and teaches them valuable life skills, it also affects the community. Since each member has to do at least 40 hours of service by the time they graduate, they have to volunteer somewhere so why not give back to their community. National Honors Society is a blessing to many and teaches each member a skill they can use for later on in life.
