National Honor Society

National Honor Society (NHS) and National Junior Honor Society (NJHS)

The NHS and NJHS are the premier U.S. organizations established to recognize outstanding high school and middle school students. As more than simply an honor roll, NHS/NJHS serves to acknowledge those students who have demonstrated excellence in a number of areas.

For NHS, students are selected based on their scholarship, leadership, service, and character. For the NJHS, students are selected based on the qualities listed above as well as citizenship. Both NHS and NJHS are sponsored and supervised by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) in the United States.

At CIPLC, the Anzoátegui Chapter of the National Honor Society serves students in grades 10 through 12, and the Barcelona Chapter of the National Junior Honor Society serves students in grades 6 through 8. The local chapter selection criteria for induction into NHS and NJHS require a 3.5 cumulative GPA or above to be eligible to apply for membership.

NHS/NJHS Application Process

The chapter’s advisor(s) receive a list from the Superintendent’s office of students who are eligible based on their cumulative GPAs. The Chapter’s advisor(s) then extend an invitation to those students to apply for membership in one of the honor societies. As a final step, students who are invited to apply must complete an application packet by a deadline that is usually in February or March.  Application requirements include:

1) Write an essay of no more than one page (Arial or Times New Roman fonts, size 12 or 14), based on two provided questions and guidelines.
2) Complete an application that must be signed by the student and a parent.
Both documents (essay and application) must be submitted to the Advisers by the printed deadline.
3) Ask one of their teachers to complete a confidential Faculty Input Form. The teacher will return their Faculty Input Form directly to the advisor(s).

Faculty Council and Selection Process

A Faculty Council, with 5 teachers selected by the Superintendent, is formed to meet and select new honor society members. The Advisor(s) will facilitate the meeting, but they are considered non-voting members. This Faculty Council will receive and analyze the information submitted by applicants and will make the final membership decisions.

This selection process will take place within two weeks after the application deadline. The meeting information is considered confidential to allow the Faculty Council to make comments and analysis based on the merits of each individual candidate.  Within 2 weeks, the Faculty Council’s decision will be presented to the Superintendent, and students will receive an acceptance letter or a non-acceptance letter. A non-acceptance letter will explain briefly why the student was not selected based on the Organization’s pillars and encourage the student to re-apply in the future.

As part of their normal procedure, the Faculty Council at CIPLC automatically reconsiders all selections and non-selections, so appeals should be rare. However, should a student and parent feel that they have been overlooked for membership, they may appeal in writing, to the MS or HS Dean within one week of receiving the non-selection notification. Appeal letters must be signed by both the student and a parent. The Dean will then investigate to see if there was an error, omission, or impropriety in the selection process. Outcomes of an appeal can include (but are not limited to): (a) Reject: Rejection of the appeal and sustaining the original Faculty Council decision. If necessary, the case may be appealed to the Superintendent at this point; (b) Reconsider: Request from the Dean that the Faculty Council to reconsider the case (although this will be rare because of the automatic reconsideration process already in place); and, (c) Overturn: A change in the decision of the Faculty Council, resulting in the selection of the student in question into the NJHS or NHS.

If you would like to obtain more information about the NJHS and NHS organizations, please visit the following links:

NJHS: https://www.njhs.us/students/membership/how-to-become-a-member
NHS:https://www.nhs.us/students/membership/how-to-become-a-member