2007-2008

"The purpose of this organization shall be to create enthusiasm for scholarship, to stimulate a desire to render service, to promote leadership, and to develop character in the students of secondary schools."  (NHS National Constitution)

Activities     Members    Newsletter   Selection Criteria

I.                   All academically eligible students are notified and given process guide, and a Student Activity Form.

II.                Notified students who feel they also meet the other three criteria must then submit a completed Student Activity Form listing pertinent activities (both in and out of school) and awards received during their high school career.

III.             Faculty members receive a list of all eligible students. They then rate on a scale of 0 to 5, the extent to which each student meets the three criteria. (The faculty is encouraged to make specific comments, positive as well as negative, to further give insight about the eligible student. Any negative rating must be explained.) In order to be further considered for selection, a junior or a senior must have an average of 3.5.

IV.            A faculty council of five teachers then selects the new members based upon the evaluations received from faculty and the Student Activity Information Form submitted by the applicant. (This is the exact process outlined by the National Constitution of the National Honor Society that all chapters must adopt and follow.)

V.               When the faculty council has made its decisions, the NHS officers and chapter members are informed of the results which "are to be held in confidence until the induction ceremony".

VI.            An in-school assembly is held in front of the majority of the student body. At one point during this ceremony, the president of NHS "taps" (announces) those individuals selected by the faculty council. The newly selected members are then reorganized by the student body.  Attending the assembly may prove uncomfortable for those who expect to get "tapped" but do not. For this reason, any prospective candidate who so chooses, will be excused from the assembly and informed of his/her status following the ceremony. (No student may be informed of his/her status ahead of time, however.)

VII.      The members of the National Honor Society, faculty, and administration of St. Henry High School understand that non-selection may be disheartening, but "the parents and students must understand that no student has the right to be selected for membership in a chapter of the National Honor Society". In light of this fact established by the United States Supreme Court, and the National Council's statement that they "will not review the judgment of the faculty council regarding the selection of the individual members to the local chapters, "all decisions of the faculty council are final.”