When National Honor Society (NHS) members aren’t busying themselves with academic and extracurricular pursuits, you can find them volunteering at local events or charities like College Night or Feed My Starving Children. Every spring, many juniors apply to join NHS, an organization for high-achieving high school students that promotes service, scholarship, leadership and character.

In order to apply, students must have a 3.5+ unweighted or 3.8+ weighted GPA, at least 20 hours of community service and be involved in two activities per school year. The application also involves getting forms from activities you participate in, teacher recommendations and writing an essay about one of the NHS pillars. Seniors may also apply at the beginning of their senior year.

“After students apply, we send a teacher rubric out to all our faculty, and teachers get to rate students on a four-point scale; one being that they don’t recommend and four being that they recommend for admission,” NHS sponsor Daniel Gin said. “After we collect all the data, we bring it to the faculty council. The faculty council consists of one faculty member from each department here, and we will talk about each of the applications to see if they have met the criteria established for admission to NHS.”

NHS President Orli Eisenberg advises future applicants to NHS.

“NHS is more than just meeting requirements; it’s about what you make of it,” Eisenberg said. “If you’re interested in joining, get involved in volunteering not just for the hours, but also because service is very fulfilling and a great way of getting involved in the community and giving back, which, especially as high-achieving students, is very important.”

NHS is also an opportunity for students to find community with others like them.

“I think the best thing about NHS is that in addition to being great students, we’re also all great people and we care about helping others,” NHS Vice President Emilia Rydzewski said.

Recently admitted junior Gabriela Gonzalez wanted to join NHS for similar reasons.

“I decided to apply to NHS because I thought it would be a great opportunity to gain leadership experience and maybe gain some academic rigor,” Gonzalez said.

Gin explains the role of NHS at West, which includes assisting during parent teacher conferences and other evening events.

“Every year, we always try to give back a scholarship to a student at Niles West,” Gin said. “We also go out into the community to places like Feed My Starving Children to volunteer and are involved in school events. Whenever the school is looking for volunteers, they come to NHS first.”

NHS members are officially inducted in November, where they are given a certificate and take an oath that they will abide by the values and rules of NHS.