NHS serves the community

Milford High School is proud to be involved with the National Honor Society. This chapter of NHS has been active for many years, doing many service projects and inducting dozens of candidates each year.

NHS is a year-round commitment to volunteering and helping those who need it most. Students can apply as a junior and continue senior year.

“It not only looks good for college, the volunteer work is very rewarding,” said senior NHS member Lexi McFall. “I loved working with the senior citizens last year; it not only is a good thing to do, but you feel good as a person for helping out.”

In the past, NHS here has done a variety of service projects impacting this community and others in the area. Programs include spending time with senior citizens, holding a jean drive for homeless teenagers and raising money to help leukemia and lymphoma patients.  This year, students are working with the Huron Valley Optimists’ program “Blessings in a backpack.”

This involves NHS getting financial donations or kid-friendly dry goods and other materials to be put into a backpack and sent home for the weekend. That way, they can be sure that those kids are getting meals at home while they’re away.

“It feels so great to help out those kids whose families might be struggling,” said senior NHS member Kate Gillingham. “I want to make sure we can give as many kids as possible meals for the weekend, so they don’t go hungry.

This is why being in the NHS is so beneficial; you get to help out not only your school but your community.”

National Honors Society is big on service but that is only one of the four pillars: scholarship, character, leadership, and service.

Scholarship is characterized by a commitment to learning. A student has to be  willing to spend the necessary time needed to accomplish a strong academic performance. Scholarship means always doing the best work possible, regardless of the possible reward that one may get.

Character is what makes us different from one another. It is being able to make the right choices every day, all the time, even when no one is looking. Students with good character demonstrate respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and citizenship in all that they do.

Leadership is taking the initiative to help others throughout their daily activities. Leaders sacrifice their personal interests in order to yield to the needs of others. Leaders need wisdom and self-confidence to affect change in all aspects of their lives.

Service is the willingness to work for the benefit of those in need without any acknowledgement or reward for your actions. The National Honor Society is highly concerned with giving it all to the school and the community at large.

Being a member takes a big commitment. In order to be a part of the NHS at Milford, students must maintain a GPA of 3.5 or above. There is an application involved, so if you are interested see Ms. Hittle or Mr. Vosk for details.

There are some service requirements that come with being about of the program. For each semester, a candidate must record 12 service or volunteer hours. This is expected and must be met to stay in the program.

“It’s sometimes hard to figure out time to volunteer with school and sports, but that’s what makes NHS so highly looked upon,” said senior NHS member Josh Bravo. “It takes hard work and dedication to get everything done in time.”

As stressful as it sounds, it is possible for anyone to do it if students manage their time wisely.

If you are a freshman or sophomore and are thinking about becoming a candidate in future years, it would be a good idea to get ahead of the game now.

If you want to be a great candidate in the future, you should be working on keeping up the good grades now and commit to volunteer work in the community.

The volunteer work would not only help others, but it will be rewarding in itself and also provide a great resume when applying to this prestigious club.