Viking Chapter of the National Honor Society
About JTH National Honor Society
NHS is more than just an honor roll. The Honor Society chapter establishes rules for membership that are based upon a student’s outstanding performance in the areas of scholarship, service, leadership, and character. These criteria for selection form the foundation upon which the organization and its activities are built.
Scholarship: Potential candidates; sophomores, juniors, and seniors must have an unweighted GPA of 3.6 or higher. These students are then eligible for consideration on the basis of service, leadership, and character. Sophomores apply in the Spring and Juniors and Seniors that are eligible can apply in either the spring or fall.
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Service: This quality is defined through voluntary hours of service donated by a student to the school or community, to be done without compensation and with a positive, courteous, and enthusiastic spirit.
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Leadership: Student leaders are those who are resourceful, good problem solvers, promoters of school activities, idea-contributors, dependable, and persons who exemplify positive attitudes about life. Leadership experiences can be drawn from school or community activities while working with or for others.
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Character: The student of good character adheres to school rules and policies; ie: has never been suspended or had excessive absences. He or she upholds principles of morality and ethics, is cooperative, demonstrates high standards of honesty and reliability, shows courtesy, concern, and respect for others, and generally maintains a good and clean lifestyle. Responds to adversity or conflict with grace and maturity. Any reports of members demonstrating character traits that are "unbecoming" of NHS they will be removed per the by-laws.
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Everyday Scholarship, Service, Leadership, and Character
by Nara Lee
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Whether or not your school has a chapter of the National Honor Society, I share this memo to illustrate the universality of National Honor Society values and how they can fit into each student’s educational journey*.
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No two educational journeys are the same. Some may look similar, but taking certain courses, course loads, participating in specific activities, and achieving coveted honors and prizes do not define values. While we believe in the value and power of recognition, the pillars of the National Honor Societies are not limited to student members alone. National recognition programs like the National Honor Society strive to place a much-needed emphasis and spotlight on whole-person growth in school settings.
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National Honor Society membership is invitation-only and a specific honor. But Everyday Scholarship, Service, Leadership, and Character are shared values of schools, communities, and families.
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Everyday Scholarship is a commitment to learning and growing on an educational path. It means making the most of the educational opportunities provided and seeking out learning, not only in school or similar settings, but also personally.
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Everyday Scholarship doesn’t require a minimum GPA—but it does require effort. More importantly, it stems from a desire to contribute to this world in a positive way by building on one’s own knowledge, skills, and talent through different experiences.
Everyday Service is seeking out and engaging in meaningful service. It calls for a service mindset, the desire to seek opportunities to help others as well as acts of service. As Honor Society students, young teens and young adults at local chapters are required to meet minimum service participation requirements.
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Although hours are important, Everyday Service is seeing a need and fulfilling it voluntarily. Sometimes it’s driven by a passion for a specific cause or people in need. Other times, it’s driven by personal or family need, like taking care of siblings or other family members, or maybe even working part-time to help with family finances.
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Everyday Leadership builds on Everyday Service. Service and leadership oftentimes look very similar. Everyday Leadership is carrying oneself with dignity and taking ownership and responsibility for one’s own actions and participation. Being a public speaker, playing quarterback, or having an official title is not required for Everyday Leadership. Everyday Leadership means being an agent—someone who takes action and responsibility—of your own pathway.
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Everyday Character is valuing diverse cultures and building relationships that reflect love of self but also concern for others. There are endless attributes to good character: perseverance, respect, integrity, honesty, sacrifice—the list goes on. Good and noble character is a high calling. Oftentimes we don’t “see” character unless there is a public display of self-sacrifice, or more often, a very public mistake. Everyday Character is not about praiseworthy or blameworthy behavior but the personal commitment to ethical and compassionate decision making that affects oneself and others.
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NHS thanks the following organizations and leadership for their input and support in creating Everyday Pillars: Making Caring Common (Harvard Graduate School of Education), Dr. Jonathan D. Mathis (former Director of the National Honor Societies), Dr. Andrea Elzy and Thrive Chicago, and our parent organization NASSP.