Students revive academic honor society chapter

After being disbanded in 2015-16 school year, the school’s National Honor Society club is back in operation this year thanks to the efforts of juniors Ravina Patel, Ananya Vadlakonda, Rishi Jain and Prisha Samdarshi and sophomore Anthony Liu.

The SHS chapter is part of the larger National Honor Society organization, which  “serves to recognize those students who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of scholarship, service, leadership, and character” and began in 1921, according to the NHS website.

The organization also offers opportunities for scholarships. According to Vadlakonda, members must have an individual service project to apply for the scholarships, and help each other out. In addition to the scholarships, the NHS club in SHS plans to carry out a club-wide service project.

In the past, the NHS club was advised by former history teacher Kim Anzalone, who retired last year.

According to the presentation from the first NHS club meeting in MAP and Leadership teacher Matthew Torrens’s room, 506, on Feb. 7, “The National Honor Society (NHS) will serve to recognize exceptional Saratoga High School students who are not only academic achievers but also have a desire to improve their community through leadership and service.”

At the first meeting, the officers went over the application process, and once they accept members, they’ll begin discussing and choosing their club-wide service project. The service project will be carried out for years to come, Vadlakonda said.

The application to be part of the NHS for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years consists of prompts asking for grades, leadership roles, service activities, honors and and awards as well as free-response prompts such as asking about a moment that inspired the applicant. Not all applicants will be accepted, even though there is no limit to the number of people in the club, Vadlakonda said.

In forming the club, the officers had to create a five-member council of faculty members. According to the NHS website, “The faculty council works with the adviser to develop and periodically review local selection procedures and disciplinary procedures.”

The faculty council’s members are history teacher Margarita Morelle, English teacher Natasha Ritchie, Spanish teacher Gina Rodriguez, English teacher Susanna Ryan and drama and English teacher Sarah Thermond.

The acceptance results came out on March 14 after the officers met with a faculty council to decide on the members.

Those who were not accepted by NHS are still allowed to attend meetings. Vadlakonda said that unofficial members can still contribute as they desire, but will not be eligible for scholarships.

Patel said that she and the other officers decided to bring back the NHS to the school because there are not many clubs that implement both scholarships and service projects.

In addition, Patel said that there were few opportunities for such clubs because one of the few clubs that had scholarships and community service, the California Scholarship Federation (CSF) club, has different focuses. For example, NHS focuses more on individual service projects than CSF.

“Although CSF is also a service club on campus, it serves a different purpose than what NHS will strive to be,” Vadlakonda said.

“Next year, we will probably discuss volunteering opportunities, tally volunteer points or discuss what we are up to next,” Patel said. “Once we implement individual service projects we will most likely have people present their idea during a meeting and try to get others to join their initiative.”