The National Honor Society (NHS) is a group of juniors and seniors who give back to their community through individual volunteering hours or group work parties. They not only focus on school and extracurricular activities, but also on giving back to locals through community service projects.
NHS requires students to be at least a junior with at least a 3.5 grade point average (GPA), along with 20 hours of volunteer service before applying. Each semester, every member has to complete a large service project where they help the city and assist their neighbors.
Amaya Martinez, a senior, is in her second year a part of the NHS and has participated inservice projects with NHS. One of these service projects was helping out at Trillium Creek Elementary School, as they helped kids a part of the club and helped the younger students at their school with a party.
“Our goal every year is to give back that time to the community and help out in any little way possible,” Martinez said.
One of their work parties was at CREST Primary School (the district science center), and another one was cleaning up at Mary S. Young Park. While the service hours go on aschool transcript, they are also giving back to their neighbors.
A senior in the club, Holly Pearce is the National Honor Society president. She joined when she was a junior, and this year, she hopes to get more people to the service projects.
NHS has also done various SOLVE projects. SOLVE is one of Oregon’s largest volunteer networks, according to Linkedin. They participate in cleaning up neighborhoods, beaches, and parks, and do other environmental projects.
“I hope to get a lot of people at the service projects,” Pearce said. “I want to find unique and creative [projects] that haven’t been done before.”
The Society is meant to have people work together in a leadership environment. By cooperation, members accomplish service projects and help others, while maintaining their GPA.
“I wanted to join [the NHS] because it highlights two things that are important to me, which is academic excellence, then also volunteering and community service,” Pearce said.
Martinez has also been a part of NHS since she was a junior,
One of Martinez’s experiences with the group was volunteering at Trillium Elementary School for her service projects.
“My two service projects I did last year were fun and nice to be able to do,” Martinez said. “One of them I did was for an elementary school and they had their little craft party and I was a volunteer. I remember when the high schoolers did that for us when we were kids.”
One of Martinez’s obstacles was to get the 20 volunteering hours in before summer ended.
“I signed up for a lot of volunteering in one month and I just went crazy. It was every day I had free time, I was volunteering.” Martinez said.
Students do their service project once a semester, but there are also group service projects that NHS contributes to. The society members can be people you go to for help, andfor Martinez, she looks up to Pearce.
“She’s one of my favorite people, we also do Mock Trial together,” Martinez said.
Martinez and Pearce both have had two years of experience with the NHS, and they have been a part of plenty of meetings and they have greeted a number of new members.
“Just join because the stakes aren’t that high,” Martinez said. “It’s not like a big cut process or anything, and it’s definitely worth it in the long run. It’s only a couple hours of work versus having an application that is really good.”
The senior officers and the club president are both resources to go to about how to apply for the club, when the clubs meet, and what their projects are about. Anna Crandall, adviser, may also be a contact for students who are interested in NHS.
“I’d definitely say join,” Pearce said. “[Anna] Crandall is super sweet and amazing and she will work with you if you have any questions.”
