<p>I’m glad that many of you are on the same NHS schedule, our school only inducts seniors in the fall, in the past it had been juniors also. I have no clue what our requirements are nor when applications/recommendations are done, D will have no problem with the grades or CS but without forewarning it could be tough for someone who doesn’t do the CS all along, but that might be their goal anyway. We have about a dozen? twenty? out of class size of ~ sixty. A few years ago they decided to discontinue it because such a high percentage of the class was inducted. They replaced it with their own designation which was harder to achieve. Uproar and it was reinstated just for the seniors. I don’t know if this other club thing exists still or not. I don’t know what our NHS does. All service stuff is done through the Key Club or other specialty service clubs.</p>
<p>The hoops are minimal, but it would still be nice to have some warning. We’ve been nagging him about community service all year. There are lots of activities at school, but apparently none that his friends are doing. The trouble with when they spring the news is that he’s also been frantically trying to practice for NYSSMA (music thing), Science Olympiad (the state contest is this weekend), two school tests to get out of taking econ and gov next year, and the SATs.</p>
<p>Yikes! I don’t even know when the invitations to NHS go out in D’s school, but she hasn’t received any notice yet. I do know there is a community service component, but I don’t know how many hours are needed or whether it has to be done beforehand to get accepted, or during the coming school year. I’m going to have to ask around, because I don’t think D has a clue, in spite of having friends who have gone through the process. I believe she has plenty of unaccounted-for hours she could use if she needs them - but probably not 50! </p>
<p>momof3sons - I will try to convince D to sit in on a class at each of the schools we visit, but it’s probably not easy to fit in class visits when you’re on a tight schedule. How did you manage it, when you tried to fit in two tours/info sessions in one day? That’s what we’ll be trying to do. BTW, I believe Cornell did the same thing - had classes posted on their website, and also in the lobby of the building where they were holding info sessions.</p>
<p>Like Youdontsay, at our high school students are invited to apply based on grades alone. But the application is lengthy, includes getting two teacher recommendations, and the stumbling block is often service and/or leadership prior to joining. Sophomores are eligible to apply at the end of the 4th quarter and are inducted in June. Another round of inductions happen at the end of Junior year. Officers are a mix of seniors and juniors; numbers vary each year; seems like there are more girls than boys. Total membership, based on what we saw at the induction ceremony last spring is about 50 (out of combined junior/senior classes of about 700).</p>
<p>The chapter seems to be very active, with various service activities planned through-out the year benefiting both the school and the community. They also offer tutoring and mid-term and finals review sessions. The NHS staffs the graduation ceremony (programs, ushering). Continuing service hours must be spread throughout the year and the amount that will be accepted from summer activities is limited. S1 refused to buy into the NHS hype and did not submit an app. S2 has been active, but not overly so, preferring his StuCo activities, which also involve service and leadership.</p>
<p>Our school invitations were also based upon gpa, and the CS activity needed to be provided as part of the application. Because there were so many kids this year who were caught unaware about the CS requirement, our school has extended the application period a bit.
Pugmadkate, the application timeframe definitely seems to vary from school to school, so you may want to contact your school’s guidance office to be sure.</p>
<p>No NHS at DD’s school either - I wonder if it is anywhere in California?</p>
<p>Color me pleasantly surprised. I asked S about NHS and he said he’d already filled out the packet, he just needs me to sign it and that two Saturdays he recently volunteered at his school for fulfill the community service requirement.</p>
<p>Thank you for the information and reassurances. I swear, this parenting gig has aged me 20 years, at least!</p>
<p>pugmadkate - good thing you got an early start at motherhood. ;)</p>
<p>S was invited to join based on his GPA, but at his school you also need to have 6 ‘points’ worth of ECs to be in NHS, and he doesn’t meet that criterion. He was just happy to have been asked. :)</p>
<p>D is filling out her NHS paperwork now. She was a junior member this year and will be a full member if selected this year. So she has to submit all of this year’s paperwork as well as last year’s again. I wish someone had told her that because she’s missing one letter. Ugh.</p>
<p>At our HS, if you meet at certain GPA requirement you are invited to apply for NHS in the fall of your junior year (or senior year if you don’t qualify until then). You need to list EC’s and volunteer work, verify the volunteer work, and get one or two recommendations from non-teachers.</p>
<p>As far as I can tell, there is about equal weight put on community service / school involvement – if you are especially strong in one area or at least somewhat involved in both, you will probably get in.</p>
<p>However, there does seem to be a bit of a popularity component…if the teachers making the final decisions know and like you, you have a better chance. (This is not sour grapes…both D’s are NHS)</p>
<p>Do most schools have NHS chapters? I see no mention of NHS on D’s school website, nor has D ever mentioned it.</p>
<p>Our large HS (2800 kids) invites jrs and srs with GPA of 3.7+ to apply. Application is lengthy and requires 60+ CS hours verifiable with signed letters on letterhead and earned starting freshman year. Also need to include leadership hours. Character is verified by NHS advisors by polling teachers. Only about 1/4 of kids who qualified by GPA were eventually admitted. </p>
<p>My S is a scout so the CS hours and leadership were easy. I just started a notebook for my D who is a freshman.</p>
<p>Also have ongoing CS hours requirements throughout jr and sr year, both in school and out of school, to remain in NHS</p>
<p>at our schools, they show you the NHS requirements at the first high school meeting you go to. it shows that you need service hours, leadership and a certain GPA. at our school about 10% of the class makes NHS. and when it is time to apply, it is a scramble to get the app. done, but nobody is scrambling for the service hours. i don’t think scrambling the last couple of weeks for a few service hours will show any commitment to community service. here, the hardest part to get is leadership hours. many kids who would seem to have all the goods do not get accepted, so it really is an honor.</p>
<p>I’m thinking from this thread alone that the NHS is active and well in some states, but not in others (who may have their own state level honorary/program.)</p>
<p>It seems to have evolved since I went to HS (class of '75 in WA.) Back then, it was strictly GPA qualified, period. Well, maybe there were deportment elements as well, not sure. However, there were no teacher recommendations or community service attached to it. If memory serves me correctly, many of the kids who were in NHS were pretty involved. There were a few outliers who were strictly into academics alone.</p>
<p>This is an abbreviated version of how it works at our school:</p>
<p>Eligiblity is open to sophomores, juniors and seniors in the spring. A student must have a GPA of 3.7 or higher. The sponsor will distribute membership applications to qualifying students, who have one week to complete the application. The application asks them to detail their history of leadership and service in the school and Austin community. Students also write a short essay explaining why they want to be in NHS. An evaluation form is given to each member of the faculty to evaluate the eligible students on the above-mentioned qualities. Then, a five-member faculty council reviews the applications and evaluations and determines whether the student has met membership requirements. New members are notified through a “keying” ceremony at school during the school day. In late spring, a formal induction ceremony occurs, where students receive a membership certificate from the principal. </p>
<p>To maintain membership, each member must perform 20 hours of service each semester with 5 of those hours at NHS-sponsored events.</p>
<p>Like Mike’s school, they’re looking for kids who already were doing CS. If you’re a sophomore and don’t get in, you can always try next year after you have a better idea of what it takes.</p>
<p>Looking at this map:</p>
<p>[Map</a> of State Organizations](<a href=“http://www.nhs.us/s_nhs/sec.asp?CID=120&DID=53011]Map”>http://www.nhs.us/s_nhs/sec.asp?CID=120&DID=53011)</p>
<p>It appears that NHS is mostly absent from the western US.</p>
<p>I just checked the NHS website and used their search function. My D’s school is not listed, nor is her old school. No wonder I haven’t heard anything about NHS- except on C.C!</p>
<p>That’s interesting, scualum.</p>
<p>So we’re going to the college fair at the Javitz Center next week and some people have suggested that we bring labels to slap on the post cards. Great idea, but what should be on them? Name, address, school (should I include high school code?), telephone number? Anything else?</p>