All year long Haley Beck, president of Coppell High School’s very own National Honor Society, has been working together with Mr. Casey along with the other officers in providing its members with hour opportunities. From  working the debate tournament to planting flowers in the community garden, the chances to not only gain hours but give back are endless.

Members are expected to meet the hour checkpoint by mid January and failure to do this results in dismissal from the society. Juniors are required to obtain 10 group and 15 individual hours, while seniors need 15 of both in order to meet standards.

While this may seem like a lot, Haley does quite a great job with keeping that Facebook page updated with new and creative ways to serve in our community. This year the National Honor Society officers have been working hard to enforce that it is less about the hours but rather more about how you help give back.

Juniors and seniors interested in joining Coppell High School’s National Honor Society can now apply for membership in October. Applicants must have a GPA of 4.8 to apply. Also, an application is to be filled out by Monday October 31. Applications may be picked up in Mr. Casey’s room, B214. The new members will be inducted in November.

The time for applications and teacher recomendations has come and gone as next years members for the National Honor Society were notified last week.

Like always, the group accepted into NHS features a large amount of students who have not only maintained a high GPA, but also managed to turn in all their paperwork on time. As a final step before full membership, all participants are required to attend the induction ceremony taking place on Tuesday April 5 at 7:30pm. While it is not a formal event, everyone is expected to wear nice clothes and appear professional.

Congratulations to all new members.

So, teachers, prepare yourselves to crank out seventeen letters of recommendation, because it is time once more for students to apply for admission into the National Honor Society.
Current sophomores with a GPA of 4.8 or higher are eligible to apply. Along with the application, students are expected to turn in three letters of recommendation (two teachers, one other adult), an essay describing why you are interested in membership, and a complete academic resume.
Applications are to be turned in to Mr. Casey by Friday, March 11, and chosen members will be inducted on Friday, March 25.

The time has come for sophomore students with GPAs exceeding 4.8 to submit applications for the National Honor Society, or NHS. NHS is an organization that encourages good leadership qualities in participants as well as requiring community service hours. Only well-rounded students with good grades and exceptional character and citizenship are accepted.
Applications for NHS can be picked up from Mr. Casey before or after school.

Staff Writer

Video by Chloe Lanier

Forty-two new faces walked across the stage on Tuesday night, heads high and faces proud. The new inductees crossed the stage before the current National Honor Society (NHS) officers, NHS sponsor Kevin Casey, administrators and their parents.

The class of 2012 junior inductees are Alyssa Baker, Evan Baker, Madison Butzer, Wynn Cary, Patrizio Chiquini, Grant Clift, Madeline Daily, Abigail Davis, Ethan Evans, Harmony Fan, Adrian Galvan, Max Green, Sarah Hall, Kyle Jaksa, Kasey Johnson, Danny Jung, Vicky Kao, Cynthia Kim, Tanner Lines, Brindan Martin, Lauren McGrady, Sam Moran, So Mi Park, Laura Poe, Chris Ponmanissery, Hannah Popper, Jett Raines, Jesse Rehling, Jason Reyes, Sarah Rouhani, Vanessa Santillan, Kelly Sigmund, Nicholas Velez, Grant Vlahos, Wesley Vohs, Lauren Walter, Chenglai Wu, Jennifer Xu and Daniel Yo.

 The new class of 2011 seniors are Madison Creel, Sarah Lee and Nick Martinez.

These individuals were recognized by the Coppell High School Excalibur Chapter of the program.

“The students are a very strong group of 42,” Casey said. “The seniors, specifically, have a lot of catching up to do [because] they are joining near the end of the first semester.”

To apply, students were required to have a cumulative GPA of 4.8, a letter of recommendation, two teacher evaluations, a resume and a statement of purpose. All of these respective elements were due Nov. 26.

“The officers and Mr. Casey, together, reviewed the new set of applications,” NHS President Judy Hong said. “We ultimately judged them based on each individual’s character. The recommendations from the teachers were really helpful because they revealed the personalities of the students and their potential as members. Then, [the committee] evaluated their personal statements and extracurricular activities.”

This was a great opportunity for new, previously ineligible and unaware students to join a prestigious society involved in a multitude of different acts of volunteering including helping at local elementary schools, assisting food drives and banks and picking up trash at monthly trash pick-ups.

“The applications were very academically strong and impressive,” Hong said. “We [many of the officers] were familiar with our peers who applied which gave us even more of an advantage when reviewing the materials.”

At the ceremony, officers emphasized the importance of scholarship, leadership, service and character – ideals that remain prevalent in the club. Candles representing each membership quality were lit by the current NHS officers, and following this, Hong announced the list of candidates who were greeted onstage by CHS Principal Brad Hunt. The junior attendance secretary Allie Quill closed the ceremony by reciting the NHS pledge with the new inductees.

“Hopefully, we laid out the expectations and responsibilities as a member of NHS,” Casey said.

In the spring, there will be another induction ceremony for sophomores who will apply in a similar manner. The society does this to ensure that the new sophomores will be active during their junior and senior years.

As the final inductees crossed the stage, people cheered one last time for the students that joined the organization; new members that are prepared to serve as models true to the principles of NHS.

Staff Writer

As the end of the year comes to a close, National Honor Society members find themselves scrambling to finish their last minute required group and individual community service hours. Well, not to worry, because there are still many places that are available, even for group hours.

A few excellent places to get individual hours are the Coppell Community Gardens (which offers double hours), Coppell Teen Court (which also offers double hours), Petsmart and the Coppell Public Library. If you wish to volunteer at the Coppell Community Gardens and Teen Court, all you must do is figure out the dates they are available and go there, without any prior training or notification. In order to volunteer at Petsmart and the Coppell Public Library, you must notify them ahead of time if you wish to volunteer there.

If you are in need of group hours (which are much harder to find and obtain than individual hours), you are in luck, because Christian Community Action (CCA) and Hearthstone Assisted Living are both in need of volunteers. Since these places are both open to everyone, they can be counted as group hours. If you are planning to volunteer at the CCA Resale store in Lewisville, then you do not need to tell them ahead of time of your arrival, but notice is required to volunteer at Hearthstone.

Remember, hours are due before the year is over, which is just around the corner. Sophomores need five group hours and 10 individual hours. Juniors need 10 group hours and 10 individual hours, and seniors need 15 group hours and 10 individual hours. Also, remember that extra group hours can roll over  into individual hours, but not the other way around.

To learn more about obtaining group hours at CCA and Hearthstone, click here and here.

The spring blood drive is next month, April 8. NHS members are to check Blackboard for updates and shadowing sign-up will be at the next NHS meeting, April 1st. Volunteers will be working sign-up tables during lunch the weeks after Spring Break.

Friday, April 23 from 5-9 pm is Denton Creek Elm.’s Sping Fling. Volunteers will be able to earn tickets for the carnival along with group hours when volunteering for this event.

Relay for Life, the first weekend in May, needs volunteers. Members can contact relayforlifecoppellvolunteers@gmail.com for more information and sign-up for a maximun of six group hours.

Remember that extra group hours can roll over to become individual hours, although individual hours can not count as group hours. Seniors need 15 group and 10 individual hours; juniors need 10 of each; and sophomore need 5 group and 10 individual hours. And don’t forget to pay dues -$10 in a sealed envelope with your name, ID number, 1st or 7th period class dropped into the NHS library box. The last NHS meeting was March 4th; upcoming meeting is April 1st.

Staff Writer

This week, the National Honor Society (NHS) and National Spanish Honor Society (NSHS) will both be holding their monthly meetings.

The NSHS meeting will be today at 4 p.m., and the morning meeting will be tomorrow at 8 a.m. The purpose of the meeting will be to notify members of the cancellation of the holiday social that was scheduled for this upcoming Saturday, and to also inform members of when service hour logs will be due.

The NHS meeting will be this Thursday at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. The location of the meetings has been changed, as the morning meeting will be held in the Lecture Hall and the afternoon meeting will be in the auditorium. These locations will remain permanent throughout the rest of the year.

To learn more about the history of NSHS and NHS, click here and here.

Coppell High School’s National Honor Society admitted 150 new members this year to its Excalibur chapter, including 19 seniors, 12 juniors and 110 sophomores.

The Induction Ceremony, held last night, included the inductees, officers and many proud parents. Principal Brad Hunt opened the ceremony with a warm welcome, followed by the traditional lighting of the candles (a candle for each characteristic of scholarship, character, service and leadership) and an announcement of the candidates led by sponsor Jeb Puryear who handed each candidate a certificate of membership.

Applicants were required to have maintained a grade point average, or GPA, of 4.8 or higher to be considered for admittance and were required to submit a resume, essay and acquire three recommendations.

Puryear and officers spent a week narrowing down applicants and NHS’s traditional “tapping” was observed October 30. As the initial recognition into NHS, tapping consisted of senior and junior officers visiting classroom to “tap” new members and reward them with a congratulatory paper.

“I felt accomplished,” Junior inductee TH Hernandez said. “NHS is a very prestigious society so being tapped into meant a lot. I put great thought and effort into my resume, and being inducted into NHS showed me that my hard work paid off.”

Junior Alex Park had the honor of sharing the induction with his younger sister, sophomore Ashley Park.
“Getting inducted with my sister was great,” Park said. “It’s rare to share an experience like this with a sibling, and my parents were really proud of us both.”

Junior and one-year member Macaully Shumate expressed her excitement about the new generation of members.
“It’s pretty exciting that new people get to join because it’s a good group to be involved with,” Shumate said. “I enjoy being in it because it encourages me to do things for my community and work service hours.”

The ceremony concluded with the Pledge of the Society. A reception followed.

The society was created to recognize scholarship, character, service and leadership with the motto “noblesse oblige,” meaning that along power and prestige comes responsibility. NHS was established in 1921.

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