By Amanda Arp

Correspondent

Scholarship, service, leadership, and character define the members of the National Honor Society. At North Tama, the resident junior and senior members induct a select few high school sophomores, and sometimes juniors, into NHS each year. Last Thursday, eight sophomores, one junior, and one foreign exchange student were brought into the Perry Chapter of National Honor Society.

The ceremony began with a rendition of “Amazing Grace” sung by junior Amanda Hoeg and senior Sara Stoakes, both members of NHS. This was then followed by a welcoming speech from the North Tama NHS sponsor, Mrs. Roz Stull. She told the audience how “North Tama is fortunate to have such dedicated scholars who are also very involved in our school and community.”

She then handed the program over to the juniors, which included Amanda Arp, Dylan Youel, Carston Calderwood, Emily Ewoldt, Jeremy Wrage, Morgan Halupnick, Kelsey Upah, Amanda Hoeg, Nora Seda, and Lucille Howard, many of whom took turns reading the accomplishments of and honoring the eight seniors: Wyatt Hanus, Catie Thompson, Alex Herink, Sara Stoakes, Marah Jacobs, Sarah Schrier, Alex Kubik, and Brooke Johnson.

When asked how NHS impacted her high school career, Sarah Schrier said, “It showed me how important service is to my school and community. It has also taught me how to give back to people who have helped me, and it has made me feel more thankful when people do stuff for me.”

Wyatt Hanus mentioned how his high school career was “impacted by lending a hand to someone in need and by making our school better.”

After the honoring of the seniors, a candlelight service was held to explain the four basic principles of NHS: scholarship, service, leadership, and character. These explanations were meant to help the inductees understand what their duties were to be as members of NHS.

When asked why NHS is important, Morgan Halupnick said, “I think it’s important to be in NHS because I like being involved. NHS gives me the opportunity to be active and help other people.”

Lucille Howard, when asked this same question, responded with, “NHS is important because it’s a chance to help out other people. We’re always doing something helpful and fun.”

Right after the candlelight service, select juniors and seniors told of the accomplishments of the individual inductees and quoted their essay, which they were required to write to enter NHS. The inductees included junior Sean Dengler, sophomores Tyler Beenken, Brendon Boerm, Adrienne Estes, Jon Koob, Amanda Howard, Brittany Young, and Lillian Howard, and senior foreign exchange student Sergey Klementyev.

Amanda Howard, when asked why being inducted into NHS was such an honor, said, “It is an honor because I have been given another opportunity to be successful later in life.”

Tyler Beenken also said that it was an honor “because only a certain number of kids each year are inducted and they are an elite group of kids which I’m proud to be a part of.”

The ceremony ended with a pledge spoken by the inductees and NHS President Brooke Johnson and a small speech from Mrs. Stull. And thus, ten new members were added to the ranks of the Perry Chapter of National Honor Society.