On November 15, twenty-five students were inducted into the National Honor Society at The Gunston School. The National Honor Society (NHS) is a prestigious organization for juniors and seniors, which requires them to hold a grade point average of at least 88 and to exhibit four core values—leadership, character, service, and scholarship.
Photo: Members and inductees of the 2016-17 NHS
First row L to R: Lizhi (Cliff) Peng, Baoyi (Betty) Zhou, Simiao (Grace) Dai, Kangcheng (Max) Cao, Jo Wanner, Sophie Cooper, Lauren Covell, Rachel Pettit, Ryleigh Paskoski, Maddy Romberger, Lily Phipps. Second row left to right: Gillian Felton, Lila Ingersoll, Shiqi Xie, Tong Shen, Tianqi (Stacey) Shi, Nuobing (Amy) Fan, Rongjie (Rose) Fan, Natalie Prochaska, Alice Agee, Joey Smith, Olivia Sherman, Mary Macmillan. Third row: Heidi Barcus, Emma Johnson, Steven Goss, Chris Newberg, Huixin (Emily) Teng, Ben Byerly, Henry Parkhurst, Tim Hesford, Nick Desai, Susie Fordi. Top row left to right:Ben Jones, Ethan Boone, Abigail Miller, Ryan Redding, Sutter Phillips, Sam Johnson, George Bowie, Neel Patel, Alli Webb, Nikki Blades
Missing: Chad Angelini, Jamie Caron, Xinying (Elaine) Jiang
The morning began with the inductees and their parents, and current NHS members attending a breakfast in the Ryan Library. The induction ceremony followed in the Field House with welcoming remarks made by Headmaster John Lewis. Mr. Lewis spoke about the importance of the word “honor”, and noted that “we are only defined by certain terms, if we allow ourselves to be; and, we have the power to control the terms we use to define ourselves.”
Following Mr. Lewis’ remarks, the keynote address was delivered by, Robert J. Etgen. Mr. Etgen has been the Executive Director of ESLC since October 1990. Etgen congratulated the students on excellence, doing more than the expected. All students at Gunston participate in athletics and complete community service, but to be selected for NHS requires academic excellence and greater engagement in all areas of scholarship, leadership, service, and character. He concluded his address stressing the importance of land conservation and how every individual can make a difference.
To highlight the core values of NHS, four candles were lit by current members, as senior and NHS president Olivia Sherman spoke about the meaning of each value. As inductees were called up one-by-one, they received a certificate, pin, and rose, and signed their names into the NHS registry. To make them official members of the society, current members pinned the inductees with a pin bearing the NHS logo and the pledge was recited, led by Natalie Prochaska. To conclude the ceremony, Mr. Michael Kaylor, the NHS advisor, shared words of wisdom and high praises to the students for their accomplishments.
Congratulations to this year’s inductees! Grade 12: Sophie Cooper, Nick Desai, Tim Hesford, Xinying (Elaine) Jiang, Lizhi (Cliff) Peng, Rachel Pettit, Jo Wanner. Grade 11: Heidi Barcus, Kangcheng (Max) Cao, Simiao (Grace) Dai, Rongjie (Rose), Fan, Gillian Felton, Susie Fordi, Steven Goss, Lila Ingersoll, Sam Johnson, Mary Macmillan, Chris Newberg, Henry Parkhurst, Ryleigh Paskoski, Neel Patel, Lily Phipps, Joey Smith, Alli Webb, Baoyi (Betty) Zhou.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.