Skip To Main Content

National Honor Society

What is National Honor Society?

Since 1921, the National Honor Society (NHS) has been working with advisers and principals to recognize students who demonstrate and are committed to the values of scholarship, service, leadership, and character in school settings. The purpose of this organization shall be to create enthusiasm for scholarship, to stimulate a desire to render service, to promote leadership, and to develop character in the students of secondary schools. 

How does a WHS student become a member?

  • A junior who was enrolled at WHS the year before and completed their sophomore year at WHS with a career GPA of a 3.9 or higher.
  • A senior who was enrolled at WHS the year before and completed their junior year at WHS with a career GPA of a 3.9 or higher. 
  • Transfer Members: An active member of the National Honor Society who transfers to this school will be automatically accepted for membership in this chapter, when they present a signed letter from their previous school’s National Honor Society advisor confirming their membership. The faculty council shall grant to the transferring member until either mid, or end of the year, when GPAs are run, to attain the membership career GPA requirement and, thereafter, this member must maintain those requirements for this chapter in order to retain their membership. Transfer members are responsible for a 30-hour community service project regardless of transfer date.  

Once invited to be a candidate, students must complete the candidate information form, to demonstrate the other core components of the National Honor Society. The candidate information form the WHS chapter uses is the one suggested by the National Honor Society, and the minimum requirements on the form were approved by the faculty council. Faculty council reviews the candidate information forms and votes on membership. A majority of faculty council has to vote in favor of a candidate becoming a member.

What are members responsible for?

Everyday you uphold the credo of the National Honor Society, with academic integrity and demonstrating high academic standards, showing and proving good character and citizenship, being a good leader and role model in our school community, and using your talents to always lending a helping hand to better improve the community that you live and go to school in. 

What are all members of NHS obligated do?

  1. Pay $20 in chapter dues annually.
  2. Complete a 30-hour community service project annually. 
  3. Attend all the meetings, attend the induction ceremony, and junior member attend the undergrad awards.
  4. If you are a junior, to carry your membership into senior year you have to maintain your career GPA of a 3.9 or higher.
  5. Community Service Requirement: All members must complete a 30 hour community service project either individually, or in a group. If working in a group, each member has to complete 30 hours. Members have to pick from a list of pre-approved projects and are responsible to planning and coordinating their hours. Community service for NHS is separate from the graduation requirement. 

What if a candidate does not become a member?

The Pullin Poynte Chapter of the National Honor Society at Winthrop High School’s official appeals process include:
The candidate reaches out to the chapter advisor within 5 school days of being notified of their non-acceptance to the Pullin Poynte Chapter of the National Honor Society at Winthrop High School. At this time the chapter advisor will give the candidate the rationale for why the faculty council voted in descent of the candidate.

After this the candidate can request to meet with the faculty council. At this meeting the following will occur:

  1. The faculty council will provide their collective rationale for voting in descent of the candidate. The faculty council will then ask the candidate for a rationale why they should reconsider them to be a member. The faculty council may ask specific questions that correlate with why they originally voted in decent.

  2. The candidate may then speak in their defense and must answer faculty council’s questions. 

  3. The candidate will leave the room. The faculty council will discuss and vote using the voice vote tradition. 

  4. The candidate will re-enter the room and the faculty council will deliver if they have either (1) rejected the appeal, or sustaining the original judgement, or (2) an overturning of the faculty council’s decision, resulting in the selection of the student in question.

  5. Parents in the appeals process: Candidates who want to meet with the faculty council may bring a parent to their appeal. Parents are not a participating member of the appeal, they may not speak on behalf of their child to the faculty council. Parents may not be argumentative with the faculty council’s decision and rational. The candidate is the only one allowed to speak for themselves at their appeal. Should a parent interject during the proceeding at any point, the appeal will be terminated and the original decision will stand.