The selection process is open to eligible students who meet specific criteria and undergo a faculty review, considering academics, extracurriculars, community service, and teacher recommendations.
“3.5 GPA or above is one of the qualifications. Students also need to make sure they are in good contact with the school and are not getting into trouble,” NHS advisor and Geometry teacher Jermaine McCormick said. “They also need to be involved in a sport, an extracurricular activity, or a job.”
To complete the requirements, students must have obtained fifteen community service hours.
“Five of them need to come from our faculty council list,” McCormick said.
Students must meet the rubric requirements to be inducted into the NHS.
“The way the selection process works is that at the end of the application due date, student applications are sent out to our faculty council members, and they look over your application,” McCormick said. “If you are a new member, you get to fill out a teacher recommendation form.”
The most important part of the NHS is to develop students into leaders who are positively impacting their community.
“The biggest mission is being a servant leader. We have a lot of kids that are here at our school that are a part of NHS,” McCormick said. “What I would like to communicate to kids, is it is not a status, it is something you guys already do, and because of that, we would like to reward you, and recognize you for being a servant leader of the school.”
NHS can be a motivation for students to keep their grades up.
“They have to keep up their grades. Students have to be responsible for their grades, and it holds them accountable to make sure those grades are up and at least a 3.5 GPA,” McCormick said.
NHS can not only benefit students academically but also personally.
“My firm belief is that if you are serving others and taking time to be with other people, it makes you look beyond what your needs are,” McCormick said. “I think that is an important part of growing up, that you not only look at your needs but other people’s needs as well.
Members of the NHS have responsibilities to uphold.
“They must make sure that they keep those NHS values, which are scholarship, character, leadership, and service,” McCormick said.
NHS can prepare students for college and future careers.
“NHS is a national organization for exceptional students to get into,” McCormick said. “When universities see that a student can be responsible and keep grades up it helps with their big checklist. It crosses out their question of the student’s character and behavior. Colleges like to see that students are involved in the community.”
