Selection to the Martha W. Woolery chapter of the National Honor Society centers around the core values of NHS and is based on the following criteria:
- scholarship: cumulative G.P.A. (weighted or unweighted) of 3.5 or higher and demonstrated commitment to scholarship
- character: no out-of-school suspensions, in-school suspensions (including ISS for tardies), or incidences of cheating during the previous school year or current year to date
- leadership: one of the following two options:
- “Membership in good standing” in at least one “official Hickory High School sponsored club/activity” during high school. For our purposes, “official Hickory High School sponsored club/activity” is defined as “being listed on the HHS activity guide” and “membership in good standing” status is determined at the discretion of each individual club/activity sponsor. Students are encouraged to be active in HHS clubs and activities beginning in the 9th grade year. Please contact individual club sponsors for information about “good standing” membership requirements.
- “Membership in good standing” of any HHS VHSL JV or Varsity sports team during high school. For our purposes, “membership in good standing” status is determined at the discretion of each individual coach. Please contact individual coaches for information about “good standing” membership requirements.
- service: documentation of at least 10 hours of volunteer community service with any one organization during high school that is different from used to meet the leadership requirement; may be an official Hickory High School sponsored club, activity, or sport or a nonprofit community organization, military organization, or hospital; for example, you could volunteer 10 hours on different projects all through the Boy Scouts OR you could volunteer 10 hours participating in Hickory’s Relay for Life. To qualify for our purposes, there must be no compensation or discount, financial or otherwise, associated with the community service and the organization must be nonprofit, with the exception of hospitals. Please note, official documentation is required. Parents may not verify this service unless they were the sponsoring agent of the project.
Process
- In March, sophomores and (non-member) juniors with a qualifying GPA will receive an invitation to apply for NHS via their CPS student Gmail account.
- Completed applications with all required documentation of the selection criteria must be submitted electronically by the due date. Please note: Late applications will not be considered. There are no exceptions, including absence on the due date, so students are strongly encouraged to turn in applications early.
- Per NHS guidelines, students who have transferred to Hickory High School from other high schools where they were members in good standing of National Honor Society need only turn in documentation of their membership in good standing with the other chapter. Please email Elizabeth Dalton for more information. Note: this applies only to National Honor Society membership (NHS), not National Junior Honor Society (NJHS).
- After the application due date, faculty members appointed by the principal to the NHS Faculty Council of Hickory High School will meet to consider each application. The NHS sponsors do not serve as voting members of this committee. Members will be selected to the Martha W. Woolery chapter of the National Honor Society based on the information provided by the student in the application and by a consensus of the NHS Faculty Council members.
- Students will be notified of their selection to NHS in a traditional “tapping” ceremony which occurs during school on an unannounced date in the spring.
- The formal induction ceremony will take place in late spring. Family and friends are encouraged to attend!
- Students who have transferred from other high schools who would have satisfied the selection criteria for NHS had they been students at HHS in the spring of their sophomore or junior years of high school may, with a waiver from the principal, apply to NHS in the fall of the school year they transfer to HHS. As with all applicants, students will need to submit the required documentation showing that they had satisfied the selection criteria as of the application period for the year they believe they would have been selected to NHS. Students who are selected to NHS via this option will become members effective immediately once they are selected, and will be invited to attend the induction ceremony that occurs in the spring of that school year. Students wishing to explore this option should see Mrs. Dalton in room 144 or email Elizabeth Dalton on or before September 30 of the year they transfer to HHS.
Revised 9/20/21