National Honors Society, or NHS, is an extracurricular organization around the world founded in 1921, and currently consists of over 1 million students. The society is broken down into chapters, in which each chapter sets their own guidelines for admission based on the set qualifications of the NHS, including a minimum of a 3.0 grade point average (G.P.A).

To become a member of the Hammonton chapter, students must maintain over a 3.20 unweighted G.P.A., and represent the four pillars of NHS— scholarship, leadership, character, and service.

Every year, students submit applications to join after receiving a letter notifying them of their qualification. This year, applications were due on Monday, November 27th to head of the Hammonton Chapter, Mrs. Doughty. Applications consist of an essay and a SIAF form.

The SIAF form asks students to list all extracurricular activities, leadership positions, any community service work they’ve done, and work experience, recognitions, and awards. Each item listed on the form must be accompanied by a signature to verify the student’s claims.

How many students qualified this year for the NHS?
About 350 students received letters this year.

Is there a limit to how many students can be admitted?
No, it’s based on how many students actually qualify, and all students who qualify get in; however, of the amount of letters sent out, only 100 students applied.

When should students know if they got into the NHS or not?
Students won’t know until about the second week of January.

Can you describe the selection process?
The first thing is to get invited, in which the students have to have an unweighted GPA of 3.2 or higher get the letter saying they qualify. Students then have to fill out the application in which they are asked to let the selection committee know who they are, not as an individual but if they qualify for the four pillars– scholarship, service, leadership, and character. After students submit their application, the faculty will get a form to evaluate each student, and they evaluate them on their application of the four pillars in the classroom. After that, there is a selection committee that meets, but they who don’t know who the people are; they are just given a folder that has the information about the person but they have no name, they are just given a number, and they read through the application and complete a checklist about each student and select who gets in. That gets sent back to me and I mail out the letters letting students know if they got in or not.

Can you describe your role as the advisor?
I’m the person that people in the community or high school come to if they need the NHS members to do something– serve, donate, or help run different events. The officers in the NHS run the meeting. The officers determine what’s on the agenda, make sure everybody signs up for the different activities.

When did the Hammonton Chapter of the NHS open?
It opened in 1932, which was very unique, as in order for a school to get in, they can’t apply, they have to piggyback off a school that is already a chapter to show that their following the strict regulation that every chapter has to follow and they have to do that for a couple years before they can apply.

Junior Ryleigh Kane applied for NHS this school year. She said “The whole process took me a while but the essay was the hardest part. I wanted to apply because it would look good on college applications and help me help my community.”

Junior Andrew Hoover also applied this year, saying “I applied because I think I have all the requirements to qualify. The process wasn’t hard, but took a couple weeks of getting the letter of recommendation, writing the essay, and getting the signatures.”

Senior Isabella Royer joined the NHS last year. She feels the best part of joining is the play put on on Halloween for the elementary school. To future members, she said “I wouldn’t recommend it if you aren’t trying to get into a great college; there are other service clubs that would be just fine, and I have spent a lot more money than I expected to.”

Ilianna DeJesus is also a senior who entered NHS last school year. She is glad to be getting the credit for her hard work and service through the club and at graduation, and she believes “if you sign up for you, you have to be willing to put the work in because it won’t be that easy.”