NATIONAL HONORS SOCIETY

National Honors Society (NHS) is an honors program for seniors that is “all about giving back to the community through community service,” according to club sponsor Jeff Barry. Lori Mitchell also sponsors the NHS.

“It’s a big honor for them because… it’s kind of like a culminating event that is something that I think …students are looking forward to for a number of years,” said Barry. Normally, the club would meet on average twice a month but because of Covid, they haven’t being regularly meeting this year. However, when NHS does meet, they go over what opportunities and services are available. Once accepted into the NHS, the students are assigned 40 hours of community service to complete, although this year, they were only required to do 20. The students are always very proficient with their community service. 

“This year, they put together an opportunity to help beautify and clean up Central Park earlier in the fall,” said Barry. It was “something that the students really put together on their own and they contacted the park district. They put together a plan proposal and made it happen,” added Barry. The students have all been working hard to do their community service hours. 

To get accepted into NHS, normally students would have to be really active during their junior year of high school. This means being involved in “three sports or activities,” according to Barry. However, during COVID-19, they’ve been more flexible with accepting members. They look at how active one was during their freshman-junior year. To get a chance of getting accepted into NHS during senior year, make sure to get involved with clubs, sports, and activities years prior.

 Although NHS offers special scholarships students can apply for, the real takeaway from being a part of NHS is the experience of giving back to the community. By doing these acts of service, the members bring a huge positive effect on the community.

Like club sponsor Barry said, “Those small ways in which they’re helping actually can have a pretty big impact.”

FUTURE BUSINESS LEADERS OF AMERICA

 On the first week of March, FBLA members Charlie Mottola (2nd in Intro to Business), Yu Jie Zheng (2nd in Introduction to FBLA), Ben Smith (3rd in Computer Problem Solving), Pradnyan Khodke and Nathan Kirkeeng (2nd in Banking & Financial Systems), Rileigh Berg, Michael Loizzo, and Jia Zheng (3rd in Management Decision Making), and Sebastian LeBlanc and Nicholas Profenna (3rd in International Business), competed in the state competition and qualified for nationals.

 In addition, Hailey Droessler and Abbey Finley (5th in Community Service Project), and Harley Jarvis (5th in Insurance and Risk Management) Liam Moore (5th in Organization Leadership), Joselind Manzano (6th in Securities and Investments), Jordan Groth (7th in Journalism), and Darryl Overstreet (8th in Agribusiness) all placed in the top ten at the state competition.

“Everyone wants to qualify for Nationals. To accomplish this, students must place in the top four in their event at the state level,” said club sponsor Diane Keuth.

Typically, “In non-pandemic years, the national competition is located in one place in the country. This year it would have been in Anaheim, California (but it will be virtual).  It is fun to travel and stay for five to six days competing, networking and exploring in another city. The last nationals we attended was in San Antonio, Texas,” said Keuth.

In addition, Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, is a club that meets every Wednesday after school run by sponsors Keuth and Maggie Hansen. They meet “usually with Zoom although we have had some Face to Face meetings,” said Keuth. Being in FBLA means having leadership opportunities for students to practice and demonstrate.

 “They build confidence in the tasks completed as a group. This club stresses positive leadership opportunities,” said Keuth. From this club, students take away skills used in adulthood. “They have the opportunity to earn scholarships and receive awards, being recognized as leaders in their community,” Keuth states. This year, the club accomplished the Military and Marine Care Packages project. Altogether, the students, staff, and community members managed to fill twenty four donation-filled boxes. 

 To get involved with FBLA next year, email sponsor Keuth at dkeuth@d127.org or co-sponsor Hansen at mhansen@d127.org .