Staff sponsors of the National Honor Society mistakenly sent out acceptance and denial emails to 350 juniors Monday, April 14. The messages were received by both students who had applied to the society and those who did not. Shortly after, a follow-up email was sent clarifying the error and instructing students to disregard the previous letter.
The emails were mapped to an incorrect spreadsheet of juniors rather than the list of students who actually applied to NHS. As a result, some students who were denied were later sent the correct acceptance letter. Of the 350 students contacted, only 40 were ultimately accepted into NHS when the official admissions were released.
“I first got an email saying I was denied because of ‘not enough faculty points.’ I felt kind of surprised because I didn’t even consider the faculty points to be a possible reason for being denied. I was also very confused because then I got an email saying I was accepted and I had already come to terms with the reason that I got denied. I went… to clarify that the first email was incorrect and the second email correct,” junior George Hurducas said.
Many students who had never applied to the society were taken aback after receiving unexpected admission decisions.
“I was really confused on why I got the email because I never applied for NHS. When the follow-up email was sent, I kind of understood that there was a problem, but still was questioning why I got sent an acceptance letter,” junior Emily Kim said.
Although a clarification email was sent by National Honor Society sponsor and College and Career Counselor Daniel Gin, many students were unsure if they had been accepted or not. The first NHS meeting, held during homeroom on Thursday, April 14, required students to check in by name. However, due to the mix-up, some students’ names were missing from the list, and they were turned away.
“The letter really meant a lot to me… I got confused because there was a mix-up, so I thought the first email was the mix-up and the second email saying I got accepted was the correct one, and I was really happy… but then I was told I was rejected at the meeting,” a junior said. The NWN agreed to withhold their name.
Immediately after the emails were sent, Gin realized the mistake and recognized the impacts of the miscommunication.
“I know it caused a lot of confusion, so I apologize for my actions that I did and that caused some stress and anxiety,” Gin said.
