This year’s applications for the National Student Leadership Week DifferenceMaker Awards were exceptional in their quality and made the decision of the judges a difficult one. The National Honor Society and National Junior Honor Society congratulate each of the NHS and NJHS chapters that entered the competition and encourage them to continue their commendable efforts in their schools and communities.

The winners of the 2006 DifferenceMaker Awards are:

NHS: Bloomsburg Area High School, Bloomsburg, PA for its project “Super Saturday”
Super Saturday consists of four consecutive weeks of enrichment activities especially designed for students in grades 3-6 held at Bloomsburg HS, taught and directed by BHS Honor Society Members. The Honor Society members work closely with BHS faculty to design the hands-on activities. The goal of Super Saturday was and will be to provide a curriculum that gives each child individual attention, encourages group interaction and results in finished products that each child is proud to take home. Over 80 children from the community participated. 

NJHS: Bonita Springs Middle School, Bonita Springs, FL for its project “Christmas for One and All”
NJHS students at Bonita Springs identified an elementary school in Clewiston, FL, about 2 hours south whose student body was greatly impacted by Hurricane Wilma. The goal of the activity was to collect 700 books, 700 stuffed animals, make 700 Christmas cards, and bake 700 cookies to share with a school where 65% of the students were on free lunch and children of farm workers for crops that had been destroyed by the storm.

Look for details about these outstanding projects in articles in the Leadership for Student Activities magazine next year.