High School
About NHS
The National Honor Society chapter of Spring Lake High School is a duly chartered and affiliated chapter of the National Honor Society.
Membership is open to those students who meet the required standards in four areas of evaluation: scholarship, leadership, service, and character. Students are selected for membership by majority vote of a 5-member Faculty Council, appointed annually by the principal, which bestows this honor upon qualified students on behalf of the faculty of our school each year. The chapter advisers, Jessica Beebe and Amanda Pepin, is also appointed by the principal and facilitates all selection procedures and chapter activities during the year.
Students in grades 10-12 are eligible for membership. For the scholarship criterion, a student must have a cumulative GPA of 3.75 or better on a 5.0 scale. Those students who meet this criterion are invited to complete a Survey of Interest Form that provides the Faculty Council with information regarding the candidate’s leadership and service. A history of leadership experiences and participation in school or community service is also required. A minimum of 5 hours of documented community service is expected.
To evaluate a candidate’s character, the Faculty Council obtains additional professional input. First, official school disciplinary records are reviewed. Second, members of the faculty are requested to provide their professional reflections on a candidate’s service activities, character, citizenship, and leadership. The faculty feedback and the Candidate Forms are carefully reviewed by the Faculty Council to determine whether each candidate meets the criteria for membership. A majority vote of the Council is necessary for selection. Following a review of the results of the Faculty Council voting by the principal, candidates are notified regarding selection or non-selection according to a predetermined schedule.
Once the notification process is completed, a formal induction ceremony is held at the school to recognize all the newly selected members. Once inducted, new members are required to maintain the same level of performance (or better) in all criteria that led to their selection. This obligation includes regular attendance at chapter meetings held monthly during the school year, and participation in the chapter service projects(s). A full list of member obligations is provided to all candidates and is available from the chapter advisers upon request. Students or parents who have questions regarding the selection process or membership obligations can contact the chapter advisers at nhs@springlakeschools.org.
Appeals Process
If a student was not selected for NHS membership and believes they possess the qualifications and qualities necessary for membership, they may appeal the faculty council’s decision. Please see the following steps for the appeal process:
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The student will notify NHS advisers that they would like to appeal the Faculty Council decision.
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The student will attend the first writing prompt, the date will be given to the student.
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The student will reach out to the advisers and principal to schedule and attend an interview.
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The student will attend a final writing prompt, the date will be given to the student.
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The advisers will seek feedback from the student’s teachers to determine how the student represents the 4 pillars (Character, Scholarship, Leadership, and Service) in the classroom.
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All information gathered from this process will be given to the faculty council for them to make a recommendation.
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The principal will have the final vote after carefully reviewing all of the above information.
Member Expectations
Grades
All members must maintain a Grade Point Average of 3.75 or higher. If a student’s GPA drops below a 3.75, they will be placed on probation and will have one trimester to bring their grades up to the 3.75. If their GPA remains below a 3.75 after 1 trimester, their case will be turned over to the Faculty Council who will then make the decision to keep the student on probation or to dismiss them from the NHS. If a student is dismissed from the NHS, they will not be able to regain membership.
Service Hours
All members will be expected to complete a minimum of 20 hours Junior Year and 30 hours Senior Year. A total of up to 10 hours from summer service can be counted towards the yearly total. These hours are expected to be turned in within 2 weeks of serving.
Take a picture of the forms as soon as they are completed. Keep this photo for the entire school year. You will need to submit a picture of the forms online in order to receive credit. Keep the actual forms in a safe place so that you can verify your hours.
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Juniors will have until the May meeting to complete all hours.
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Seniors will submit their hours by the March meeting, due to the printing times of the graduation program.
Service hours are expected to be completed outside of school hours. There are some special circumstances that service hours during school days can be counted, please see an NHS adviser for pre-approval.
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Not all in-school activities that were accepted in the 23-24 school year will be accepted next year. Please make sure you get pre-approval for in-school service hours.
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Advisers have the right to deny service hours if it is determined that a service wasn’t performed. If you are unsure if something will count as service hours, please contact Mrs. Beebe or Mrs. Pepin.
Service Projects
Members are expected to participate in at least 2 SLHS organized service projects per year.
Dues & Constitution/By-Laws
Members will turn in their $5 dues and a signed Constitution by the October meeting date.
Meeting Attendance
Students will be allowed to miss ONE meeting with no consequences. A second missed meeting will result in needing two more hours of community service. A third missed meeting will result in probation and the students' case being passed on to the Faculty Council to decide if they may remain a member of the NHS.
Character
Members will be free from disciplinary behaviors such as suspensions or expulsions. Either of these will result in immediate dismissal. Detentions and teacher log entries will warrant examination from the Faculty Committee and possible probation.
Academic Dishonesty
Members are subject to removal pending a faculty council decision for academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty refers to cheating, copying, plagiarism, forgery, use of AI (chatgpt), and other online websites/apps, etc, to complete assignments and turn them in as your own.
Induction
All members must be formally inducted into the NHS in order to be considered a member. All members are expected to attend the induction ceremony, even if they are already a member of the NHS.
Communication
All correspondence will be through email or Schoology. Please make sure you (and your parents) are able to receive emails from “School Messenger”, as mass emails will be sent out from the main office using that system. You will be added to a Schoology course. Please make sure you regularly check Schoology for updates. Mrs. Beebe and Mrs. Pepin are your NHS advisers, please email nhs@springlakeschools.org as this will go to both of us. Please reach out to your officers and advisers for any NHS related questions and/or concerns.