Candidate information meeting Google Slides file

It was a brief meeting, and there was little time for in depth conversation, but still it was nice for me to have the opportunity to speak to candidates in the theater this week. If you were not able to attend the informational meeting, I wish to make the Google Slides presentation available to you. This is another resource candidates can use for understanding the selection process.

Reminder: Informational Meeting

This is a reminder to Candidates that I will be holding an information session tomorrow in the theater during long advisory.

New Policies Adopted by BHS NHS

Procedure

The vote to adopt Mr. Ahnert's proposed changes to policy can be tabulated. A 2/3 majority of the 67 NHS members who attended the September 4th meeting was needed to adopt the new policies. The final results are:

• Agree to change: 49
• Do not agree to change: 10
• Abstain: 18

The 49 votes in favor of adoption are greater than the 44 necessary; thus, the new policies will be officially put in place for all future members of the Bedford High School chapter of the National Honor Society.

The new policies follow:

Meetings

• Required all-chapter meetings here in the theater will be reduced to the first Thursday of each month. This is a total of 10 meetings.
• Members are expected to attend a total of 20 meetings in the year.
• There will be attendance-optional meetings in room 113/115 every Thursday. These meetings will allow for members to focus on current projects, specialize their interests, or learn new skills.

Record Keeping

Member records for meeting attendance, peer tutoring hours, service hours, and due payment will be centralized by NHS class. Members are responsible for maintaining the honesty and accuracy of their own form. Paper copies of service will be used by the NHS officers to verify service on the centralized form. See the class of 2015 record for an example.

Hours

In order to become compliant with the requirements of the National Council, hours will now be divided into two categories.

• Chapter Hours (5 hours per year) Large, all-chapter activities conducted for the Bedford school or community that is advertised as available to all members and able to provide a service opportunity to greater than 8 students.
• Chapter Project Form
• ISPs (10 hours per year, must come from at least two sources) Individual Service Projects conducted by the member on his or her own, or with a smaller population of friends or peers. ISPs must be pre-approved by the chapter adviser before service and reflected on after service has concluded.
• Individual Service Project Form
• Peer Tutoring (5 hours per year) Peer tutoring will continue as already outlined by the chapter bylaws. But, students who go beyond the required 5 hours of peer tutoring may choose to claim extra peer tutoring hours as an ISP.
• Peer Tutoring Form

Class of 2014 inductees

Members of the 2014 Bedford induction, and therefore are future 2015 NHS graduates, will be expected to model the transition to the new policies, but are only to be held to the standards in place at the time of their induction. This means:

• 2014 inductees are not required to resubmit any paperwork for any hours they are already considered to have earned. Each member may determine the designation of their current hours, whether they are to be marked as Chapter Service or ISPs.
• 2014 inductees were inducted under the requirement that they achieve the required 30 hours of service by the conclusion of their Senior year. These members may currently be below the current requirement of 15 hours by the end of their Junior year, but are still expected to meet the graduation requirements of a 2-year member. That said:
• 2014 inductees should use the Chapter/ISP breakdown of 5/10 as a guideline, but are not required to strictly adhere to these numbers. For these inductees, 30 hours of service will be considered 30 hours of service.
• Seniors who are inducted as a 2014 - 2015 member of NHS will not operate with these special circumstances but instead adhere to the new policies under which they are inducted.