Society reports a record number of both applicants and acceptances

By Natalie Lam, Staff Writer

Sanford High School’s National Honor Society (NHS) held its annual induction ceremony on Monday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. This year welcomed a record number of inductees.

The NHS is a program that empowers and equips students with the knowledge and skills to be transformative leaders in their schools, communities and more.

According to the NHS website, along with the NHS empowering and equipping students with the skills to be leaders, it also allows students to engage with school leaders showing what they think, feel and need. 

According to NHS Co-Advisor, Sandra Thompson, this year 54 students applied and 35 were accepted, consisting of 27 juniors and eight seniors, making a record number of students in total. 

The ceremony consists of reading new members’ biographies, a guest speaker welcoming the inductees, a candle lighting to display the existing members passing on their knowledge and experience, a book signing and finally a reading of an oath. 

This year’s elected guest speaker was English teacher and Lacrosse Coach Kelly Foley. In her speech, she acknowledged knowing the inductees from their “positive reputations, academic prowess, their involvement in the school, extracurriculars and our community, which is precisely what has landed them in the NHS.” She continued to reflect on the students’ hard work and expanded on the four pillars of NHS. These pillars are scholarship, service, leadership and character. 

To qualify for the NHS students must meet and maintain a GPA of 87% or above, then they are invited to apply. When being accepted into NHS students are evaluated based on the four pillars of the NHS. 

“Students prepare their applications that demonstrate their experiences with school and community activities, leadership, and community service.” Thompson said, “The applications are then referred to the faculty for feedback, and the committee reviews all of the information to complete the selection process.”

Along with Payeur and Roux, Sanford’s NHS Secretary Emma Adawalker and their Treasurer Aiden Gendron accompany them. 

“NHS is very student-led, so we get to have freedom on how we lead meetings or different organizations that we do,” said Roux. 

According to Payeur and Roux, Sanford’s NHS organizes and participates in many events to help the community such as Toys for Tots, giving cards to nursing homes over the holidays and Day of Caring. 

“We put on the variety show at the end of the year to bring talent into the pack and to show Sanford pride,” added Payeur. 

Payeur mentioned that being in the NHS helps show colleges that the student has the skill and has been recognized by their school to be invited into this prestigious club. She added that it is a good educational commutable club to be a part of helping colleges see who individuals truly are. 

Roux said, “It shows another part of your characteristic on who you are and different aspects of you that can be highlighted.”

Below is a list of the inductees: 

Juniors: Hope Abbott-Eaton, Brady Adams, Abigail Bouchard, Taylor Coffey, Kya Duprey, Adeline Fiandaca, Elizabeth Fraser, Samone Gallagher, Jack Gengron, Izabella Goodrich, Alexis Hayward, Keria Kilkenny, Savannah Knight, Quang Lam, Alex Lemay, Matthew Lunny, Lukas MacLean, Hanah Morgan, Mckenna Nanartowich, Finn Nielsen, Madison Osborne, Rishi Patel, Audrey Payeur, Sadie Sevigny, Tala Soule, Sophie Therrien and Brooklyn Verdejo. 

Seniors: Lamar Amoakohene, Aidan Gagnon, Korrinne Greer, Olivia Guinard, Mathew Huff, Grace LaChapelle, Hannah Mueller and Zachary Parison.