New Honor Society Members Inducted at Chatham High

As the students seated on the house-right side of the stage blew out their candles, a sigh of relief seemed to collectively emit from the entire group, along with the escaping smoke.

Parents of Chatham High School students gathered in the school auditorium Wednesday night as 91 juniors were inducted into the National Honor Society.

“It was a good feeling being up there,” junior inductee Parker Dixon said. “We’ve all worked hard to get the service done to get inducted. We’ve worked hard all three year, so it felt nice to be over with it all.”

Before the induction began, principal Darren Groh spoke briefly about the history of the NHS and encouraged students to use their achievements and this recognition as a jumping-off point for continued success.

“Tonight’s ceremony should not be the end result of your records,” Groh said. “Rather, it should be a recognition of what you’ve accomplished thus far and only a taste of what you’re capable of accomplishing in the future.

“I urge you to continue to exhibit the qualities that earned you National Honor Society status as you complete your final year at CHS and embark on an ever-changing world beyond Chatham.”

The induction, which Groh said is the first of the school's many end-of-year events, was executed in a passing-of-the-guard manner as the senior NHS members, seated on the house-left side of the stage, took turns announcing the inductees. Upon receiving their certificates, the students went down the rows one-by-one lighting each other’s candles, feeding from the flame originally provided by senior and NHS officer Sahil Seekond.

As soon as every candle was lit, fellow NHS officer and senior Michael Kaiser led the juniors in a pledge.

After the ceremony, NHS co-advisers Nicole Avery and Carolyn Kielblock explained that the minimum grade point average requirement for NHS consideration at CHS is 3.65, which they said is higher than the national requirement, by the end of the student’s junior year and that about 95 percent of those who applied were inducted.

“Students have to show some quality of leadership,” Avery said. “They need to perform 25 hours of service, at least five of which need to be academic tutoring. And they need to have a clean disciplinary record.”

Kielblock said some of the services performed by this year’s inducted class included assisting in house construction with Habitat for Humanity, working in food pantries, mentoring kids from Newark and serving as volunteer coaches for little league sports.

Parent Kallan Murray said she was very proud of how hard her daughter, also named Kallan, worked to achieve this recognition.

“It’s a lot of work to put in, especially in junior year, which is very difficult,” Murray said. “So we are very proud of all of them.”