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Madison Metropolitan School District

National Honor Society

The National Honor Society was established by the National Association of Secondary School Principals in 1921, with the purpose to recognize outstanding high school students. More than just an honor roll, NHS serves to honor those students who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of scholarship, leadership, service, and character.

Four main pillars have guided chapters of NHS from the beginning: 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.  These pillars also translate into the criteria used for membership selection in each local chapter. 

National Honor Society Logo

Contact

Co-Advisors
Cayleigh Hickey
Emma Schell

Selection Committee
Cynthia Chin (Chair)
Laura Gillis
Jessica Hotz
Yong Kim
Michelle Tjugum

Invitation, Selection & Induction Process

Please be aware that criteria for Spring 2025 admission to the Madison East HS Chapter of the National Honor Society do not exactly match the criteria from the previous year. They reflect continuing, incremental changes as part of building back from pandemic-related disruptions in 2020 and 2021.

Selection Criteria Spring 2025

  Cumulative GPA

3.5 or above

  Extra Curricular Activity            

3 or more distinct school-based extracurricular activities (clubs, sports, etc.) during HS career, with at least one in each of years 10,11,(12) or at least 2 in each of years 11, (12)

  Volunteer Service Hours
  (independently verified)

45 or more hours, dating from June 15th after 8th grade and no later than March 1st of application year (11th or 12th grade).  At least 10 of the 45 hours must be in direct service to the school/student body. Examples: peer tutoring, teaching assistant, childcare during parent meetings, presenting at school assemblies, school beautification efforts, construction-related classroom set-up/takedown, etc.

  Faculty Rating Score
  --Scholarship
  --Character
  --Leadership

Average of 3.5 or above on a 5-point scale

(Only faculty who know the student personally may complete ratings.)


Invitations to the East High School chapter of the National Honor Society

Juniors or Seniors who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or above at the end of their first semester will receive an invitation via email to apply to NHS. (Seniors who are already members do NOT need this invitation.)  Invitations will be emailed to students after the first semester grades have been posted.  Receiving an invitation does not guarantee admittance; during the course of the complete application process, interested students must demonstrate that all criteria noted above have been met.

NOTE:  Membership in the National Honor Society DOES NOT COST ANYTHING.  There are similarly-named private organizations which often contact high-achieving students and offer "membership" or listing on some form of "honor roll" in exchange for payment of a fee.  Students and families may make their own decisions about these offers, but we wish to make it clear that any honor society invitation which requires a membership fee is NOT coming from East High School.

Application Deadline & Materials

All students who apply to NHS must have ALL of the following completed by March 1 of the Selection Year, at 4:00 p.m.

  • Volunteer Hours: At least the minimum number of service hours completed and properly documented (follow STEP ONE and STEP TWO  of Volunteer Hours Verification Process below)
  • NHS Student Application Google Form:  these are lists of activities and brief personal statements separate from the Volunteer Hours documentation. The link to this application is emailed directly to all eligible students in late January or early February. You do NOT need to request the application.
  • NHS Faculty Evaluations: Students are not responsible for individually obtaining faculty evaluations, but they are welcome to  personally encourage teachers from grades 9-11 (or 12) who are familiar with their work to participate in the school-wide NHS Faculty Survey

Qualifying Volunteer Hours Information

A minimum of 45 total hours of volunteer service is required. These hours can be served anytime between June 15th immediately following 8th grade, and March 1st of the year students apply for NHS (11th or 12th grade).

  1. Hours must be without pay or other material benefit to the student. Paid internship hours cannot be counted. Hours spent in activities which earn credit toward graduation requirements cannot be counted.
  2. At least 10 of the 45 minimum hours should be performed in service directly to the school community– teaching assistant hours, assistance with school assemblies or presentations, peer tutoring, childcare for parent-teacher meetings, school beautification, construction-related classroom take-down/set-up, etc.

  3. Hours spent attending regular club meetings or performing standard leadership roles within student organizations do NOT count as service hours. This is because, in principle, students are already getting separate NHS “credit” for belonging to clubs or acting as leaders.  Only time beyond “expected” participation can be counted as service time. (For example, a choir member could not count the time spent performing in a required school concert, but could count time spent performing in a small ensemble at a senior center. A science club officer could not count the time spent in officer meetings which might include planning time for a community science fair. However, extra time outside those meetings–spent in specific preparations for the fair, or at the fair itself– could be counted.)

  4. The maximum number of hours which may be counted specifically for service as a teaching assistant (TA) is 25 out of the 45 total hours required.

  5. Hours spent fundraising for any East High School clubs, sports teams, or other organizations will be NOT BE COUNTED towards NHS applications. (This is a change from 2024.)

  6. If a 2025 senior applicant submitted hours as a 2024 junior applicant and had these hours accepted under 2024 guidelines, the previously-accepted hours will remain eligible for purposes of the later re-application.  Previously-accepted hours do NOT need to be re-submitted.

  7. Under no circumstances may a close relative (parent/guardian/grandparent/aunt/uncle, etc.) provide verification of community service. If a close relative was the student’s supervisor or serves as the director of the indicated service organization, an alternate representative must be found to verify the student’s service.

Volunteer Hours Verification Process

Note: Pay attention to the year identified in each link.  Forms labeled "Spring" of the prior academic year will longer accept submissions. Forms for the current academic year do not become active until late fall. 

STEP ONE: Students should fill out the NHS Service Hours Spring 2024 - STUDENT FORM for each separate organization they volunteered for.

STEP TWO: Students should then provide the supervisor of each separate organization they volunteered for with the link to the NHS Service Hours Spring 2024 - SUPERVISOR VERIFICATION FORM (to copy the link, hover over the name of form, then right click and copy the link, paste the link into an email to the supervisor)

Induction & Maintaining Membership Status

If selected by the faculty committee for induction, students will be invited to participate in an annual late spring Induction Ceremony. Once inducted, National Honor Society members will be expected to attend meetings for the remainder of their high school career, complete NHS sponsored service projects and adhere to the written National Honor Society Code of Conduct.

NHS meetings have traditionally been scheduled only once a month, as members typically are active with other student organizations on a weekly basis.

SPRING 2024 INDUCTEES

Congratulations to the Spring 2024 Madison East High School National Honor Society Inductees!
Lina Arach
Martin Barroso
Harper Blake-Horst
Alison Bravo
Carina Caspar
Jay Coleman
Daphne Cooper
Ava Counts-Cannestra
Sarah Counts-Cannestra
Addison Currier
Aliou Diakite
Oliver Dugas
Levi Eberly
Adelaine Elliott
Nathan Foreman
Jorah Gandjui
Lucy Goeddel
Nikolay Gradinarov
Noah Griffin
Avery Hagen
Grant Haselow
Eva Hecht
Cameron Held
Kengi  Her
Ethan Hirsch
Roland Kahl
Gabriella Kelly-Schultz
Rossalyn Kiley
Teagan Kluetzman
Fatou Kujabi
Rohan Lavin-Jha
Birdie  Lee
Molly Lenius
Leo Link
Isaiah Loeb
Anahata McCallum-Moore
Samarah Morrison
Lucy Moua
Reyes Murillo
Ripley Patzlaff
Stephanie Perez
Luci Philipp
Tessa Pietruszka
Claire Pietruszka
Ana Reyes Morales
Arlo Rice
Christopher Teggatz
Scarlett Williams
Angelina Xiong
Jenkin Yang