Welcome back! We hope you are energized and ready for an exciting school year. We are thrilled to announce the focus of the NASSP Student Leadership Advisory Committee’s new national initiative. The committee members worked hard to select an initiative in which all NASC student councils and NHS and NJHS chapters will be able to participate over the next two years.

The topic? We are asking all 32,000 chapters and councils to join us in projects, activities, and events around global citizenship. This is a chance to change the actions, behaviors, and knowledge of your schools and communities. There are five major strands identified under this theme: awareness and perspective, civic engagement, empathetic actions, equity, and positive social change.

Our National Student Project Database (www.nhs.us/projects, www.njhs.us/projects, and www.nasc.us/projects) already has several projects for you to reference on this topic, but we welcome any new creative ways to bring global citizenship to your community. With the upcoming presidential election, this fall especially offers many opportunities for civic engagement (see “An Election Connection” for more ideas).

We are very excited about the national initiative, and you will be hearing more about it throughout the year. We hope we can count on you to get involved with your chapters and councils and have the courage to lead and make positive changes in our schools and communities. Have a fantastic school year!

Jonathan D. Mathis, PhD
Director of National Honor Societies

Ann Postlewaite
Director of Student Programs