Honor Society Week - Suggested Activities

Following are some suggestions to let your students, their families, your school, and the entire community know that the Honor Society at your school is an active and dynamic organization that is committed to making a positive, significant difference in many aspects of the life of your school and community. Plan your activities to recognize your chapter members for their outstanding efforts, honorable achievements, as well as their leadership in the classroom, in sports, in activities and the arts. Celebrate Honor Society Week with some of the following:

• Promote the values of your chapter (scholarship, leadership, service, character, and citizenship) with posters and announcements to the student body.
• Create a video of chapter leaders giving short speeches the standards/criteria of your chapter play them over the school's cable system during HSW.
• Encourage chapter leaders to write letters to the editor of the local newspaper about the value of education and the contributions students are making to the school and the community.
• Host a breakfast or luncheon to honor students, advisers, and administrators for their support of your chapter and its activities.
• Organize an Honor Society Week kick-off campaign with an all-school assembly honoring student leaders for the work they do leading school organizations and providing service to the school and community. See Assembly Planning Checklist.
• Dedicate each day of the week to recognize students engaged in activities that support the purposes of the Honor Society. For example, Monday recognizes Scholarship by honoring all on the honor rolls for this quarter or semester; Tuesday recognizes service organizations on campus; Wednesday focuses on student leadership; Thursday promotes the six pillars of Character (as identified by Character Counts!, www.charactercounts.org); and Friday acknowledges the good citizens of the school and the community, e.g., Eagle Scouts, veterans, leaders of community groups and government, etc.
• Work with your administration to recognize those organizations and their advisers on your campus that support the purposes of the Honor Society.
• Organize a chapter service project this week which invites the youngest students on campus to participate or that reaches out to feeder schools as a means of providing service and promoting the value of your chapter.
• Invite prominent community members to address your group, focusing on the value of education and suggestions for skills or values that they find useful now in their careers.
• Design and print lunchroom placemats on 11x17" paper that feature a photo and short bio of outstanding student leaders or groups doing service on your campus.
• Recognize student leaders who serve as officers and other key positions for the clubs and organizations on campus with a locker sign that lets everyone know they make a difference.
• Create a display highlighting the projects and activities that have been organized by your chapter over the last couple of years. Photos are always an attention grabber.
• Ask your mayor to declare November 5-9, 2007 as Honor Society Week in your community. (Sample proclamation)
• Send media releases to local newspapers and television and radio stations describing the work of your chapter in your school and community. Be sure to describe the events you have planned for Honor Society Week. (Sample press release)
• Sponsor an organization T-shirt day and invite members of all clubs and organizations, especially other Honor Societies on campus such as world language groups, English, or Social Studies groups, to wear their group T-shirts or sweatshirts that day.
• Schedule student presentations for PTA, school board members, government officials, and civic organizations highlighting outstanding achievements of your student body.
• Prepare a newspaper ad for the local paper featuring photos and short biographies of outstanding chapter members. Alternatively, have a billboard created with the same message. Solicit business sponsorships to cover the cost.
• For these events and others, don't neglect to use the official logo of the Honor Society. Chapter advisers can find a scannable version in the appendices of the national handbook.

This list is just to get you started. Brainstorm with your chapter leadership on events that will have an impact upon your school and community. If you got started too late this year with your planning, start now to plan for Honor Society Week 2008, November 3–7. 2008.