On March 8, the current senior members of the National Honor Society delivered red  carnations and a congratulatory note to the new hopeful inductees that have been accepted as members of NHS. NHS recognizes students who have demonstrated excellence in the four categories which are scholarship, leadership, service and character. But, are the requirements to become an NHS member too easy?

In 2015, there were 69 students inducted into NHS, but this year, out of the 75 that applied, only 59 students received a red carnation signifying their official admittance.

Math teacher and NHS sponsor,  Christina Ferguson, says that the requirements to be in NHS in Indiana, compared to other states. are higher.  

The required GPA  a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, however, the Indiana local chapter raised the  the GPA requirement to a 3.5 for the interested student to be considered as a member. Not only that, ones who are selected to be NHS members must show leadership skills and have a high involvement in school activities and community service. According to Ferguson, the standards have also been raised because each applicant is being judged on the four categories mentioned before.

“It is four pieces,” Ferguson said.  “It’s not just about having good grades. You have to have that (volunteer) service in there and you have to be a leader in the school. So, I think the standards are pretty high.”

However, junior Angela Dong, who has just been invited to be a part of the 2016 chapter, is one student that did not find the requirements difficult to achieve.  For her, the requirements were just something that she has been doing in her normal schedule for many years. Dong believes that none of the requirements were beyond someone’s capability. Dong says that doing community service and being a leader is something a lot of people should just do naturally, even when no one is asking.

“Some of the things they ask you to do is ‘what kind of leaderships do you take part in?’ or community service. I don’t think that’s hard,” Dong said.

Not all the members of NHS believe that becoming a member is as easy though. Senior Stephanie Flores believes the requirements are the right amount of difficulty for applicants.  Even though to some it might not be hard to get in, it is a lot of responsibility when inducted and that is something Flores believes a lot of people forget.

New members of the 2016 chapter will be inducted into NHS during a ceremony on Sun., April 10 at 2:30 p.m. in the SHS Auditorium.