72 students were inducted into the National Honor Society during a ceremony on September 25 in the West auditorium. 

National Honors Society is an organization for high school students across the country who have to meet a specific set of criteria. In order to be inducted into the NHS, a student must have a GPA of 3.5 or higher (on a 4.0 scale), and a 1750 on the SAT or a 26 on the ACT at least. They also need to be able to showcase their leadership abilities, volunteering skills, and ability to stay out of trouble.

The induction process itself is relatively easy compared to what it takes to get in. The ceremony opens with a welcome from Principal Marsha Potthoff, and then it’s explained to the parents and guardians who the board members are, and how they are all selected. After that, they move into a speech from Margret Carhart, and talk about the four pillars: character, community service, scholarship, and leadership. 

The speakers go over the importance of NHS’s impact on the community, and then the new members of NHS are inducted with a ceremony. The organization looks for students who follow the pillars because it has been said those are the basis of a meaningful and purpose driven life.

NHS president Kaili Wegner explains, “With an organization like NHS, it’s important to be unified. So it’s basically like: everyone holds a candle, a poem is read, and when you blow out the candle, you are now truly inducted into NHS.”

The ceremony isn’t the same for everyone though, second year member Grace Fornwall explains, “Since I’m a second year member, we just watched everyone else get inducted.” 

While many students aspire to live up to NHS’s high academic and moral standards, Wegner and her friend Khori Smith say it is not an end-all-be-all, and that it should not be the only consideration for impressing a college. Though is not an easy honor to earn, they encourage future inductees not to stress about the process, but simply continue to aim high and strive to be their best.