Alex Sconziano, Reporter
@ASconzCourant
Each year, the National Honors Society holds their induction ceremony in May for new members joining. In times where adapting is the new norm, this year’s induction ceremony will be held virtually on Zoom, in order to accommodate COVID-19 guidelines. NHS Advisor Ms. Thompson plans to make this year’s ceremony equally as special as in the past.
This year’s class will be celebrated online, but still have all the same aspects that it traditionally would. This includes the lighting of the candles to symbolize the pillars requirements, as well as the NHS pledge. Usually, the Induction Ceremony is a big event held in the auditorium with parents and faculty members. This year, former President Johnny Renda will be coming back and hosting the event virtually. The ceremony will be open to inductees and their families, allowing students to sit with their families in the comfort of their own homes to celebrate the great accomplishment.
This year, the National Honors Society has been limited in taking on projects and community service opportunities due to the pandemic. According to Ms. Thompson, “We used to go to Classical Magnet School in Bridgeport, where there are two separate schools in the school, one is Pre-K to second grade and one is third to eighth. We normally for the past three years have gone to the school to just help out, get to know the kids, help out the teachers, and we can’t do that this year obviously.”
“So, what we did in the spring last year was that we had some of our members read a story on video, and the kids watched it so it’s like somebody is reading them a story,” she said. For the NHS, the pandemic has made several service outlets unavailable. Aside from this, the NHS members have managed to find new ways to help the community during these times. Secretary Vivi Reeves spoke about how “…regardless of the situation, this class has continued to demonstrate resilience. Students are discovering creative ways to serve their community and get their [service]hours completed.” The class has overcome these challenges and is still finding significant ways to give back to the community.
NHS President Neya Krishnan is leading a club-wide service project with Tree Plenish, an organization dedicated to replenishing the paper used in local high schools by giving students resources to plant trees. “Each NHS member is actually responsible for selling three trees, and since we have 97 members in the NHS that comes out to be 291 trees,” Neya said. “People have been selling five, ten, or fifteen trees each so it’s definitely going to come out to more by the end on April 24th.” By the end date of April 24th, hundreds of trees will be planted across the community. According to Neya, this will replenish almost two years worth of paper used at the high school. This is just one way the National Honors Society looks to give back to the community while dealing with these unprecedented times.
Ms. Thompson has recently heard back from the Classical Magnet School in Bridgeport and has given her some insights about how they can work with the NHS. Whether this is something such as a device drive or tutoring, she believes this will be another great project for the NHS members. The NHS has already sent Juniors invitations and hopefully will hold an induction ceremony for them at the end of the school year. As for the current members, their ceremony will be online, rewarding the class for their outstanding service this year. “I am just looking forward to seeing everyone in one place. It’s an important factor getting into the NHS and having that time to celebrate everyone,” Neya said. “It won’t be the same for sure, but at least we’ll be able to see everyone and families and will be able to partake in the event and sit with their kids and acknowledge this accomplishment.”
