Defining the National Honor Society

More by Isabella DAgosto

- 01/12

Every school's NHS has basically the same core values, following the national standard

On the first Thursday of any month, walk by the auditorium just prior to that shrieking bell that inaugurates our days here at DHS. You’ll confront a mob of upperclassmen wrestling each other for complimentary Munchkins and hot cocoa. I must warn you, though, don’t bother reaching for a treat—it’s exclusive. This is the elite, la crème de la crème. This is NHS.

In late October, invitations to apply to the largely praised and somewhat resented Darien chapter of the National Honor Society were sent to 79 qualifying juniors and nonmember seniors, of which 64 armored up and sent in the application and letter of recommendation. An evaluation was then sent to all teachers, accompanied by the entreaty that they evaluate the hopefuls on the basis of character, leadership and whatever else they may have observed in the classroom.

Mr. Otterspoor, the club’s Chapter Adviser of four years, said, “That’s where we sometimes find out about somebody who wasn’t honorable in their test taking or copied a paper. That’s also when we find out about students who were maybe too humble when they wrote their [admissions] essay and didn’t really share how giving or helpful they are.”

But what does it mean to be a qualifying student? The number marks the spot—or, rather, the GPA. Given NHS’ commitment to exemplary scholarship—an expression for which I take no credit, given its origin in NHS Constitution—students must attain at least a cumulative Grade Point Average of 3.7 in order to be invited to apply to NHS.

Savvy readers acquainted with NHS chapters of other schools may be surprised by the requisite 3.7 GPA, which is characteristic of the DHS chapter. Most other schools require a 3.3 or 3.4 GPA. Originally 3.6, this heightened GPA was made effective in 2009.

“We raised it a couple of years ago because the number of people who were eligible was so large that it was just prohibitive. 3.7 is a good point because there’re a lot of normal students at 3.7. You can’t just be a type A overachiever,” said Otterspoor.

However, there is student opposition to this. “The 3.7 GPA is too high. NHS claims to stand for its four pillars, [scholarship, character, citizenship, leadership, and service], but the majority of people involved to that extent in the community don’t, and really can’t, carry that GPA. In reality, the main extra-curricular of NHS members is school,” said an anonymous senior member.

Statistically speaking, however, once a student has the required GPA, admission isn’t that tough to swing. Of last year’s applicants, 8 didn’t make it through, making for an 85 percent acceptance rate. But what exactly is it that gets the 85 percent in, and the other 15 out? What constitutes this eluding threshold that inevitably divides every junior class?

Senior Nina Preston, a member of NHS, said, “I think typically everybody has a leadership mentality, and in whatever they do that they enjoy, they are actively participating and really passionate.” However, Preston described the somewhat unpredictable selection process as “odd.”

Otterspoor seemed to speak on behalf of the entire Faculty Council—a secret group comprised of mostly teachers that ultimately divide the victorious from the late-bloomers—when he emphasized that there is not only one thing that the Faculty Council looks for.

“The English and Humanities teachers on the committee tend to skew more towards the essay and the content of the essay, and the math and science teachers tend to skew a little bit more toward the tabular data. But the discussion almost always comes down to: “Are they rounded? What’s their coverage? Does it seem like they’re doing too much? Or are they not doing enough?” They look at GPA last,” said Otterspoor.

Once inducted, members should anticipate a focus upon philanthropy in the DHS and Darien community. Since 2005 this has largely revolved around tutoring for DHS students as well as one “big” project each year, which as of last year has been the a nature-based scavenger hunt known as the Amazing Parks Pursuit.

Will De Rocco, president of NHS, said, “This is year two of the Amazing Park Pursuit. This year it’s the same thing. Hopefully we’ll make some of the things better and improve some of the maps, and outreach to more families and groups and make it better. The thought is that it will be an ongoing and continuing relationship between us and the Nature Center.”

However, there is criticism regarding the lack of diversity in the activities that NHS engages in. Some feel that the monotony of NHS tutoring and the Amazing Park Pursuit are not as conducive to the community as NHS has the power to do. Others carry similarly less favorable views of NHS.

“It's kind of weird because everybody who is in the society thinks that they’re somehow important, and everyone who isn’t in it is left either wondering what in the world NHS does, or thinking that it's just a bunch of smart people eating donuts,” said Alice Wang, a senior member of NHS. “The whole exclusivity of it is just a sticky situation.”

The induction ceremony for new members will be held on January 26.