As students help out in their community, service hours rack up, and NHS members give back to the community.
Senior Jeremiah Schaefer joined NHS after the middle school sponsor of the National Junior Honor Society gave him the opportunity to join the group.
“I joined the NHS after being in NJHS because I wanted to help our community, and I thought that was a great way to do it,” Schaefer said.
Senior Lizzy Priddy joined because she noticed the board outside of NHS sponsor Erika Richardson’s room.
“I had seen the board, so I thought it’d be fun to do community service, and I got accepted into it,” Priddy said.
Community service can include babysitting, picking up trash, lego club, little league football or helping at elementary schools. Junior Dawson Schmidt joined to become more involved with the community.
“You get to meet new people and get to help out around the community,” Schmidt said.
Erika recommends students join NHS because it looks good on applications.
“You give back to the community, having something you can put on a resume when you’re applying for jobs, colleges or scholarships,” Erika said.
Junior Elise Richardson has completed a few community service opportunities.
“I have done Core Community babysitting, PTO babysitting and helped at the book fair,” Elise said.
Core Comunity’s mission statement is to engage the community to lift families out of poverty, and PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) gives parents and teachers the opportunity to work together to supplement and enrich the educational experience.
While Elise helped out with babysitting, Priddy has helped with different activities.
“I’ve helped out with the Lego Club, little league football, and I’ve helped out with the First Baptist Church,” Priddy said.
Priddy’s favorite community service opportunity was the Lego Club because she enjoys building Lego structures with children. Schaefer enjoys watching children participate in a sport they love.
“I really liked little league football games because I like being on the sideline with all the little kids and watching them play football,” Schaefer said.
During NHS meetings in ACE, members discuss community service opportunities, all members are required to complete 10 hours of community service.
“We go over activities for the month, we talk about service opportunities and things that could possibly put you on probation,” Erika said.
Probation is when NHS members do not maintain a 3.5 cumulative GPA, or when they do not reach their required hours. Another reason Erika encourages students to join NHS is to be involved and participate in the community.
“Students have to be asked to apply in the spring of their sophomore year and have to have an accumulative GPA of 3.5,” Erika said. “I just think it’s good to have that community service. A lot of kids don’t have that opportunity to have community service in their lives, so it gives them a chance to do that and give back.”
