For as long as anyone can remember, Frederick High School has sponsored a chapter of the National Honor Society, which is an organization that consists of students who make high academic achievements and works to focus on Leadership, Service, Character, and Scholarship. Each year, the NHS Chapter at Frederick High hosts an induction ceremony to welcome the incoming group of Sophomores and Juniors, and the latest one occurred on May 3, 2022, after a two-year hiatus due to several Coronavirus restrictions.

National Honor Society is an important organization to have at Frederick High for a variety of reasons, most notably to gain experience participating in volunteer activities that help the school and community. In addition, it gives students the opportunity to be recognized for their exceptional academic accomplishments.

“[National Honor Society] is a good organization for our academic high achievers [since] you have to have a [GPA of] 3.5 [or higher] to get in, so it is a group full of kids who generally care about school, and it gives them a chance to do service projects that, at least some, are specific to our school and the betterment of our school community.”

While being invited to join the organization for their outstanding academic achievements is a major reason most students join the National Honor Society, there are many different reasons why students choose to join the prestigious organization. For example, there are possible scholarships associated with being a member of NHS, as well as other benefits that could help with student success after high school.

“Both of my siblings before me have joined it, and I realized [that it provides] a few different opportunities, such as scholarships, and it also looks really good on college applications,” shares sophomore Nic Aasmundstad-Williams. “[Being part of NHS looks good] for college applications, [as well as] on resumes and things like that while I’m still in high school, [because it shows] that I am a hard worker and am willing to put in the work.”

In addition to having in mind that NHS could help them with their opportunities after high school, students also chose to join NHS to help people within the community that they live in. 

I thought [National Honor Society] would be a really good opportunity, and I felt like it was a great time to spend time with friends and help out the community and help people around the Town of Frederick,” shares sophomore Braden Thomas. “Hopefully [National Honor Society] can help me in my future years, like in college and stuff like that, and I think it will help make me a better person,” he adds. 

With each student being inducted having their own reason for wanting to join the Frederick High’s National Honor Society Chapter and last week’s induction being the first one in over two years, there was a lot of excitement in the air. While students who joined during the Pandemic closure still received a certificate and pin as they would have if there was an induction ceremony, there are still benefits that are missed without the ceremony.

“During [the first year of] COVID, we didn’t do [an induction] at all, and with the event restrictions that were in place last year, students came by my room and picked up their pin and certificate, [but] it is nice to get a little recognition and a chance for our seniors to give speeches on the pillars so that the inductees hear some of the things that that the seniors have actually done [throughout their time in the program [at a formal induction ceremony,]” shares Mrs. Jami Revielle, the NHS Sponsor and a history teacher at Frederick High. “We haven’t done a lot of projects over the past few years because of COVID,] but hopefully with this idea it can kick start next year’s NHS group into ideas of service projects that they want to be a part of [throughout next school year.”

The Frederick Scout congratulates all of the new inductees who were welcomed into the National Honor Society on Tuesday and wishes everyone luck who is a current or future member of the organization.