• Allegany-Limestone Central School
    National Honor Society

    The National Honor Society is one of the most widely recognized cocurricular student activities in American high schools. The student activity program of the secondary school, essentially a development of the twentieth century, has been accepted as a vital and integral part of education.
     
    The National Honor Society of Secondary Schools (NHS) was established in 1921 by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) to recognize and encourage scholastically outstanding high school students. Its founders wanted to form a society modeled after Phi Beta Kappa, the undergraduate collegiate honor society.
     
    The founding committee viewed education as a total experience and the new honor society as more than just an honor roll - they emphasized the promotion of scholarship, along with leadership, service, and character, in the original constitution. As stated in the 1997 revised constitution, the purposes of the National Honor Society are to create an enthusiasm for scholarship, to stimulate a desire to render service, to promote leadership, and to develop character in the students of secondary schools.

    Students in the 11th and 12th, who have a cumulative GPA of 92 (unweighted) are eligible to become members of the Allegany- Limestone Chapter of the National Honor Society. New members are inducted in December of each school year.

    A five-member faculty council makes the final selection of members based on a candidate’s performance in the areas of service, leadership, and character. Candidates earn membership in the National Honor Society through the effective demonstration of these four qualities (www.nhs.us):

    Scholarship means a commitment to learning. A student is willing to spend hours in reading and study, knowing the lasting benefits of a cultivated mind. We should continue to learn even when formal education has ended, for education ends only with the end of life. Knowledge is one great element in life, which leads to the highest success, and it can be acquired in only one way--through diligence and effort. Learning furnishes the lamp by which we read the past, and the light that illuminates the future. Candidates have the charge to continually expand their world through the opportunities inherent in scholarship.

    Service can be described in various ways. In the routine of the day's work, many opportunities arise to help others. Willingness to work for the benefit of those in need, without monetary compensation or without recognition, is the quality we seek in our membership. We are committed to the idea of volunteering our time and abilities to the creation of a better tomorrow.

    Leadership should exert a wholesome influence on the school. In taking the initiative in class and school activities, the real leader strives to train and aid others to attain the same objective. The price of leadership is sacrifice--the willingness to yield one's personal interests for the interest of others. A leader has self-confidence and will go forward when others hesitate. No matter what power and resources may exist in a country, they are ineffectual without the guidance of a wise leader. Leadership is always needed; thus, to lead is a substantive charge to each of our members.

    Character is the force within each individual which distinguishes that person from others. It gives each of us our individuality. It is that without which no one can respect oneself, nor hope to attain the respect of others. It is this force of character that guides one through life and, when once developed, grows steadily. Character is achieved and not received. It is the product of constant action, striving daily to make the right choice. The problem of character is the problem of self-control. We must be in reality what we wish to appear to others. By demonstrating such qualities as respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and citizenship, we may hope to prove by example that we value character.