By Tom Ganser
Correspondent
On Dec. 4, more than 20 Whitewater High School juniors and seniors were inducted into the WHS Minneiska Chapter of the National Honor Society, joining the 27 current members. This was the 57th annual induction ceremony since the chapter was formed in 1956.
The evening began with a welcome by NHS member Elizabeth Mielke, an acapella singing of the National Anthem by the Music Master Trio of John Bresser, Caleb Hintz and Josh Pelayo, and two selections performed by the WHS Music Masters under the direction of Lori Heidenreich.
WHS principal Doug Parker, a former NHS member himself, charged the students to remember, “It’s your family that shapes your education. You have two families. The most important obviously is your family at home. Your second is our WHS learning community.”
“Continue to be leaders in your own education as well as giving back to others in the community you live in,” Parker added.
Pamela Sonmor-Wintz, in her 11th year as the NHS faculty advisor, summarized some of the notable accomplishments of the NHS members over the past year, including the International Student Exchange Weekend, the American Red Cross Blood Drive and the Silent Auction for NHS individual and group service projects that raised $942 for local and area scholarships.
These events, as well as others with direct links to the Whitewater community such as the “Adopt a Family Project” providing gifts and gift cards to families in need during the holidays and the Meals on Wheels Holiday Gift Program with the WHS chapter of FFA were showcased in a photo story.
Sonmor-Wintz recognized and installed the new 2013 WHS NHS officers, presenting each with a medallion. They are: Kyle Hough (president), Hye-Hyun Kang (vice-president), Brad Stoll (treasurer) and Erika Levine (secretary).
Each of the newly installed officers spoke about one of the four criteria that must be met to become a member of the NHS: Leadership, Character, Scholarship and Service.
“Leadership, at its core, is about the having ability to empower others by delegating the right responsibilities to the right people. It means building teams by respecting the people whom you are working with. It means not asking someone to do something you would not be willing to do yourself. It means being brave enough to admit mistakes when you make them and strong enough to continue on despite setbacks. Lastly, leadership means leading by example and being a willing role model for those who come after you,” Hough said.
According to Kang, “A student of good character is cooperative, demonstrates superior morality and ethics, is honest and reliable, and shows courtesy, concern, and respect for others. They display the excellence in character it takes to make the right choices under any circumstances.” In summary, Kang added, “Character shows us and makes us who we are. It shapes our goals, our choices, and our future.”
To maintain the cumulative grade point average of 3.25 required to meet the Scholarship criteria for membership in NHS, Stoll said students must make efforts “above and beyond the bare minimum.”
“One can usually see them using their SAFT [Student Assistance Flexible Time] time to finish homework and see teachers for extra help. At other times, one can see them staying after school to get help on an assignment they didn’t quite understand, or to finish a science lab. In addition, these students can be regularly seen helping other students with their homework,” Stoll said.
Reflecting on the importance of Service for NHS members, Levine said, “It is our duty to ‘go the extra mile” for those who need our help.” Although a minimum of 20 hours of community service is a requirement for NHS, Levine suggested that the service efforts of NHS members extend beyond this.
Levine, for example, volunteered in Costa Rica during the last year’s spring break to help paint an elementary school and rejuvenate the courtyard.
“If you devote yourself to helping others through volunteer activities, I guarantee that you will find success,“ Levine said. “After all, in the end the true measure of success is not only what you have made for yourself, but also what you’ve done for others.”
In the opinion of Dianne Dunham, a WHS world languages (French) teacher, “The public service component [of NHS] is extremely important. The message is that those who have talent have a responsibility to give back to the greater community.”
Following the sharing of information about the parents and interests of the inductees, they were presented an NHS pin by Parker and a certificate by Sonmor-Wintz. They also signed the NHS Registry.
After the NHS pledge was taken and closing remarks delivered by Hough, a reception was held in the auditorium foyer
.
