National Honors Society (NHS) is a prestigious group that recognizes character, scholarship, leadership, and service in juniors and seniors in America. Since our chapter recently had its application period, it’s a good time to review what you have to do each year at Cherokee to earn yourself a spot in this organization. 

To qualify for NHS, you must complete a specific amount of requirements starting in freshman year. These include maintaining a minimum GPA, volunteering, participating in clubs and activities, and serving in a leadership position at Cherokee. The only exception is if one of your years at Cherokee was during the 2020-21 school year; in this case, you are not required to have the community service requirements fulfilled. 

Your grade point average (most commonly known as a GPA) is a way of communicating how well you do in all your classes combined. NHS requires an unweighted average of at least 3.25 or a weighted average of 4.875. You can find out your current/cumulative GPA on your Genesis by clicking the tab marked “Grading” and then the tab marked “Transcript.”

The volunteer hours requirement is the section that students at Cherokee commonly have questions about. To qualify, you must complete twenty hours of community service each year. Students can start completing hours for the school year on July 1. Cherokee students who complete hours not in association with Cherokee must get a letter written to prove the hours were completed. These letters must be printed on an official letterhead (which is a heading on a letter that includes a business logo and contact information from the sender) and signed at the bottom with a pen. You must also separately get the application initialed by the advisor. If the hours were completed at Cherokee (through a club, for a teacher, tutoring, etc.) you only need to get the application initialed by your advisor. 

Along with those requirements, each year you have to participate in three clubs connected to Cherokee. These include things like Renaissance, Marching Band, School Newspaper, Wind Ensemble, ASL Club, yearbook, and many others. Club advisors can answer any questions you have about this section of the requirements.  

Obtaining a leadership position is the final requirement to get into NHS. You must have one leadership qualification in your time at Cherokee. This can be completed through sports leadership, class officials, or any other elected position within Cherokee. Although this was not included in the current juniors’ application this year, it has been included in the past for seniors. 

You can get a copy of the applications on the Cherokee website under the activities tab. Any questions can be answered by the NHS advisors Mr. Rojek, Ms. Latini, or Ms. Gsell.