On Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m., 58 new juniors and seniors were inducted into National Honors Society (NHS) for the 2018-19 school year.

These students were joined with the 63 NHS inductees from the 2017-2018 school year.

“The initial criteria is that students have to have a 3.5 or higher GPA at the end of their sophomore year to be considered for their junior year. Then they have to address their teachers that they had their sophomore year and get recommendations considering their academics, leadership, academic integrity, and essentially being a good student in the classroom,” NHS advisor Amanda Ray said.

There are four main concepts that are focused on within NHS: character, service, leadership and scholarship. Throughout the ceremony these four topics were addressed by President Carson Kahley, Vice President Ethan Gabriel, Secretary Nicholas Nahnybida, Treasurers Dalton Carstens and Alexa Christiansen.

“I think being in NHS shows that you are very involved and you strive to do more in your community and your school,” Gabriel said.

Other than going out of the way to maintain good grades, NHS students are introduced to the volunteer world. They must have 15 hours of volunteer work by the end of the school year. Brittany’s Gifts is an organization that NHS helps with. Ray believes this is a great way for these students to find leadership roles and get involved with the community.

“I fell down a hole sophomore year and didn’t do my work to keep my grades up. I saw other people getting into National Honors Society and that was something that I wanted to be involved in and get recognized for doing well. I started to work really hard to get A’s in all my classes and turn in all my homework. I strived to be in this community and I got here,” senior Miranda Schwien said.