SENSATIONAL SUMMER IDEAS

Summer is an excellent time for your chapter members to take advantage of freedom from academics to participate in volunteer activities. For example, have your student members ever considered “reverse mentoring”? That’s when teens coach adults in areas like technology. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has one such program, and it’s one of many volunteer ideas outlined in the May issue of Leadership for Student Activities. Who knows? A student might even discover a new passion or calling in life as a result. Look for the May issue, offering a wealth of resources you can share with chapter members to help them hone their service, leadership, and character values.

OUTSTANDING SERVICE PROJECT AWARDS

Congratulations to the five NHS and five NJHS chapters selected to win one of this year’s Outstanding Service Project awards! The list of winners and their winning projects will be posted in the Awards and Recognition sections of the NHS and NJHS websites later this month.

Here are the winning NHS chapters:

Pan American School of Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Stockdale High School, Bakersfield, CA
Newbury Park High School, Newbury Park, CA
Marian Central Catholic High School, Woodstock, IL
Central Cambria High School, Ebensburg, PA

Here are the winning NJHS chapters:

Fees College Preparatory Middle School, Tempe, AZ
Harriet Eddy Middle School, Elk Grove, CA
Winston Park K-8 Center, Miami, FL
Fairbanks Middle School, Milford Center, OH
Murphy Middle School, Murphy, TX

Our corporate partner, Herff-Jones, Inc., provides plaques for the Outstanding Service Project award-winning schools each year. They are a generous and loyal supporter of the Honor Societies.

CHAPTERS DOING GREAT THINGS

On March 14, which is Pi Day, the National Honor Society from Granville Early College High School in Creedmoor, NC, took part in the Pi Day Walk for the Durham Habitat for Humanity. The chapter raised $1,220! In less than pleasant weather, the 22 members walked/ran two miles. After the walk, there was a contest for the best costumed runners as well as pie for each walker/runner provided by Scratch Bakery. It was a good way to have fun for a good cause.

The NHS members of Maranatha Christian Academy in Brooklyn Park, MN, went to KTIS radio station (98.5 FM) to collect, process, pack, and load 3,280 shoe boxes onto a semi-trailer for Franklin Graham’s Samaritan Purse and Operation Christmas Child. Members also went to Feed My Starving Children to bag, tag, and box meals for children.

NHS members from Lincoln Park Academy in Fort Pierce, FL, collected cans to aid in loyal member and NHS president Kitty Zheng’s personal project. She led the group in gathering nearly 800 cans to donate to the local food bank.

Every week, new projects are added to the National Student Project Database (nhs.us/projects and njhs.us/projects). Be sure to submit your best projects! Additional stories are featured on Facebook every week.

POLICY SPOTLIGHT

Transferring Active Membership. Per the NHS and NJHS Constitutions (Article VIII, Sections 4 and 6, respectively) active membership transfers from chapter to chapter. As the school year concludes, some of your members may be transferring to other schools, and new students may be enrolling in the fall. Your chapter bylaws should reflect this policy as well. Once members are inducted, they never have to go through selection or induction again, even if they transfer schools.

For those members who are leaving, please be sure to provide a letter of verification to enable them to transfer membership to their new chapter. A sample membership transfer letter is provided on the NHS and NJHS websites under “Tools You Can Use.” If a member transfers to your school next year, please review the national policy regarding transferring active membership. If questions arise, please email [email protected].

Chapter Bylaws. If you haven’t reviewed your chapter bylaws in a while, now might be a good time to dust them off and give your faculty council an opportunity to consider amending any articles that may be outdated or hindering your chapter operations.

LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING AHEAD

Archives: Have you missed any editions of Leadership for Student Activities magazine, or perhaps you’ve misplaced a copy? Advisers can access the articles in the L4SA archives on the NHS and NJHS websites. Simply log in with your username and password. You’ll also find an index to the 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 editions.

Call for Manuscripts: Are you looking for a way to add to your professional résumé by writing for a national publication? Leadership for Student Activities magazine is seeking authors to write for us for 2015-2016. To learn more about this opportunity, email [email protected].

Is there something you’d like us to include in September’s Honor Society News? Email your ideas or suggestions to [email protected].

IMPORTANT DATES

May 1
NHS Scholarship winners and principals notified.

June 1
NHS Scholarship winners posted on the NHS website.

June 30
Deadline for membership renewal for your chapter.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

End-of-Year Checklist. As you wrap up before summer break, here’s a handy checklist to close out your year:

☐ Make a record of any students who received end-of-year recognitions
☐ Get your membership files in order to remove outgoing/graduating students and gather contact information for your incoming members
☐ Make sure you have contact information for your officers
☐ Provide transfer letters for any members who are moving
☐ Get a head start on the next school year by consulting the school calendar and begin selecting dates for your activities
☐ Take our adviser survey before June 30. We value your feedback!

 

Annual Adviser Survey. The 2015 national survey for Honor Society advisers is now available. All chapter advisers are asked to complete this online survey by June 30. Your input is essential and assists the national staff with evaluation and planning, so please schedule 15 minutes between now and the end of June to complete this task. The results will be shared with all advisers in the fall. Don’t let your chapter’s successes get left out—take the survey today.

 

Tutoring Projects. Does your chapter sponsor a tutoring program? Whether it is for students at your school, adults in your community, or outreach to other schools in your area, we’d like to hear about it. Send a description to [email protected] with “Tutoring Program” in the subject line. We are planning to highlight successful tutoring programs from NHS and NJHS chapters on our websites for the fall. This is your chance to be included.

 

Don’t forget to “like” us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and check out our stories on Scoop.it!

Thoughtful quotes like this one are featured regularly on the NHS/NJHS Facebook page and Twitter page. Join our online communities today!