Review: How to Log Hours

There are three types of service an upstanding NHS member must perform before they graduate. Here is a reminder how you get credit for the work you do:

Chapter Service

1. These are opportunities that are available to all members of NHS. They are often advertised at mandatory meetings. Examples include Sean Russell's CAS project, ushering parent open house, and working on an induction crew.
2.  Chapter Service projects are run by one NHS member or a small group. They are the ones responsible for filling out the Chapter Service Form. They are the ones responsible for turning the form into the Treasurer. 
3. If you join a Chapter Service Project and wish to get verified for the hours, you must find this group of students and get your name on their list.
4. You are responsible for putting your hours on your log.

Individual Service

1. These are activities that you seek out on your own. Often they will be a continuation of the things you already do that got you selected to NHS in the first place. Sometimes they will be new projects that are advertised at NHS meetings, but they aren't actually run by an NHS member. 
2. Each person who does an individual service project must fill out an Individual Service Project Form for each service project. (If it is one organization with several meetings throughout the year, you may use one form for that).
3. These activities must be approved as service by the NHS adviser, and this approval is based on the reflectiveness of the member, and his/her capacity to recognize the value of the activity to both the community and the self. This is done on the form before it is turned into the President.
4. You are responsible for putting your hours on your log.

Peer Tutoring

1. Any time you help another student in grades 7 - 12 with their academics, this can be considered Peer Tutoring. 
2. You must, however, do the tutoring in a place where an adult can verify that you spent a reasonable amount of time conducting a peer tutoring session. Yes, this can be at a house. But still, have a parent sign off your work.
3. The person you are tutoring must also sign the peer tutoring form.
4. The completed form is turned into the Vice President.
5. You are responsible for putting your hours on your log.

Let's build on this

I know I've set it a lot already, but let me once again say thank you and congratulate you on a job well done last night. New members, the excitement you brought to the evening was palpable. Current members, you looked the part, and you were fantastic models for what will be expected for our junior members next year.

It was a strange day in the life of our chapter. I know that behind the scenes I was dealing with a bit of crankiness amongst the ranks of our senior members. I heard the complaints you were lodging with the officers. I was aware of the grumbling you were directing to your advisors and teachers. The sentiment of "I just want to be recognized and be done" was the attitude that I was addressing when I drafted the words I spoke on the stage...

And then we pulled off a complicated yet professional induction. 90 kids pulled together to throw a party for 113 kids. I loved watching you have the evening you had: The ushers that were jokingly offering programs to everyone in sight, the Kate and her team of Seniors who ran the inductee check-in table being my go-to resource for knowing if I could cue the night to start, Rachel running down the line of inductees with my laptop at 6% battery power to sort everyone out, Joe, Abby, Emerson and their reception crew bracing themselves for the throng of cake-eaters that rushed them faster than they could slice it up, and many more moments that I missed.

Waking up early to go to school an hour before everyone else does is the worst, I know. I hate it, too. I've already decided I'm sleeping in tomrorow (no optional meeting). But, we signed up for this, and the reason we signed up for this is because we get to have experiences like the one we just had. You can't tell me that you don't feel good about what you did. You can't tell me that you didn't have fun. Yeah, it was hard work, but it was worth it.

Here's my last piece: I want to build on this because in one sense induction is kind of lame. After all, who benefited from our performance last night? We did. We did all that work for ourselves. Our next target is to do an event this big for our community and our school, for people other than us. I am definitely pushing for a big weekend of service and celebration that we plan and run in the spring. I bet it will be worth it.

Speaking of service, we need to get you guys your hours for you work last night. Open this folder and find the team you joined last night. I made chapter forms for the following teams and their leaders:

• Nolan, et al: Set up & Take Down Crew
• Joe, et al: Reception
• Anli & Sean: Letter Writing
• Kasea & Amanda: Booth
• Sarah & Kate: Ushers & Sign-in Table

Inductee Pronunciation

Welcome inductees, here's what you need to do before Tuesday:

• Fill out your name pronunciation on the guide (example).
• 2015 Guide
• Carefully read the bylaws
• Sign contract (contingent on reading the bylaws!) and club participation agreement

Induction Crew Sign-Sign Ups & planning

A thank you goes out to all the members who showed to get the induction planning started at last Thursday's optional meeting. Even more praise belongs to the students who have taken leadership roles in running the various crews we will need to make induction a professional success.

Now it's time for the rest of us to get involved. As Sarah smartly says on the Facebook, we all have to be there anyway! Here are the ways you can sign up to be a part of the evening's work:

Ushering

Sarah Kanter is collecting names via the Facebook group. You can also text her, but I won't put her number here.

Reception Set-Up & Break-Down

Sign up with the Google Doc set up by Erica, Joe, Abigail, Emerson, and David:

• Sign up!

Ceremony Set-Up & Break-Down

Sign up with the Google Doc set up by Nolan (and other dudes, but their names aren't on it):

• Sign up!

These jobs can all be found on our Trello planning board, too:

• https://trello.com/b/QyD8r61v/induction-committee

Trello is one of the many tools out there that can make organizations more efficient and productive that I've been testing this year. I know we have our Facebook, but for students that don't have Facebook, it won't work. Plus, I'm always on the hunt for things that feel "special" or different from what every other high school club is using.

That's why I'm experimenting with setting up an NHS slack. What is a slack? It's like a team chatroom, but the chats can be organized by topic, and the things we already use daily like Google Docs, Calendar, Gmail, Twitter, etc. can get easily integrated and shared. And there's emoji.

I've sent an email to every current member to check it out. You can also download the Android or iOS app to access via your phone or tablet. As I sent via text earlier this week, if any member is into this web 2.0/coding stuff, feel free to help me set it up and test other uses. 

It's not an official replacement to our other communication methods yet, but I need activity on it to test it's viability. More to come I hope!

Here's a pair of service opportunites

Hi Mr. Ahnert,

I was just emailing in regards to my CAS project, the Bulldog Giveback Day. As of now, we have about 15 people total to be there for Saturday, and four of those people (who I believe are all in NHS) are unconfirmed. So, I was emailing to ask you if it would be possible (and I don't know if Mr. Mezeske already did this, because I am not sure who he forwarded my email to) for you to either email out a message to the NHS group, or even send a text message. All it really needs to say is the time (Saturday, 11/21/15, from (9:00 AM to 2:00PM) and my email address (Available on flyers around school) to contact for signup and further details.

Thank you for your time and help,

Sean

Hi Heath,
I am looking for a peer tutor for Geometry PSP during S2. None of my peer tutors can do it at this time. Would you mind posting a request on your NHS site to see if I can get someone to take on this student?
Thanks.
Mary Ellen

11/19 Optional Meeting will be meeting of Induction Committee

One of our yearly responsibilities is to conduct our own induction ceremony of the 100+ junior members that will now be joining us.

Please come to this Thursday's optional meeting if you are interested in any of the following jobs:

• Induction set up leaders
• Induction break down leaders
• Reception planning (food buying!)
• Reception set up leaders
• Reception break down leaders
• Running the theater booth
• Induction usher leaders
• Ceremony planning (speech writing!)
• Writing induction invitations to school board and superintendent 
• Creating the programs

It's a lot of work and it doesn't happen without help from a lot of leaders.

Also, mark those calendars: We all go to Induction rehearsal in the morning and evening of December 8th. On the bright side, that's two meetings out of your 20 required.

The bylaws stand

The proposed changes to Article V and Article VI have not passed the vote. Therefore, the current bylaws stand.

The proposed changes were tallied by line item vote, and both amendments failed. The first suggestion failed outright, and the second suggestion did not meet the 2/3 majority as required by article XII of the bylaws.

Personally, I'm encouraged by what you have experienced this past month:

1. A student disappointed with the current attendance policy asked me to bring it up for change
2. For two weeks, two separate committees of current NHS members workshopped current policies and developed tenable solutions. 
3. NHS leadership conducted a vote, and encouraged membership to vote thoughtfully. 
4. The members upheld current policies.

Now, you may say, "But Mr. Ahnert, so many people are unhappy with having to come in at 7! How can you call this futile effort a success?" 

The answer is in what the bylaws are. They are the rules that we use to guarantee we all have an agreed upon standard of conducting ourselves now that we are in this Honor Society. That's the key. When we chose to answer the call to membership, we signed these bylaws. They protect us.

Our work this month has proven that our bylaws work. By upholding them, we have strengthened our organization. By testing them, we are reminded that as leaders we have a voice.

I look forward to our next conversation about how to do what we do -- better.

Mr. Ahnert

Changes to this week's schedule

1. Bedford will not be attending the Fall 2015 state conference: Only five students showed interest in attending the state conference at UNH this Friday. A bus costs too much for NHS to foot that bill for the such a small number of interested students. 
2. There is no optional meeting this Thursday: Parent-teacher conferences are going on this week in the building. The official times are Tuesday and Thursday evening, but many teachers like myself need to use the mornings as well to fit in all of our meetings. This does not reflect an official change in meeting policy, however...
3. Ballot count meeting in Mr. Dempsey's office tomorrow: I need a small group of interested NHS members (5-6) to meet me in my advisory room during Monday's activity block and help me count the ballots from Thursday's attendance policy vote. We will use a computer cart to take the paper ballots and turn them into useable data. My advisory meets in the back recess of Mr. Dempsey's office. 

Review of Ideas for the Future Attendance Policy

The optional meeting on the 29th of October went over a couple reforms to the optional and mandatory meeting attendance policy. As a group we discussed moving the optional meetings to every Monday during activity block in order to boost attendance, while keeping mandatory meetings to the first Thursday of every month at 7:15 AM in the theater.

Some other ideas were brought up to discuss during the upcoming meeting on the 5th of November, such as adding more service opportunities, simplifying individual service forms, and changing peer tutoring forms. Come into the meeting with more ideas in mind!

See you Thursday!

Do you want to attend the Fall 2015 Conference?

Our chapter has been invited to attend the state Fall Conference, which takes place on November 13th. I need to have a clear idea of our interest in attending by November 5th. That is next week's mandatory meeting.

The state meeting will count as 2 chapter meetings, and attending the scheduled workshops will be worth 2 chapter service hours. In addition, it's a chance to meet other NHS members around the state, and to get some leadership/character advice and/or experience.

Please read the following letter and itinerary:

Please submit your interest via this form.

If enough students wish to check out this gathering of New Hampshire chapters of NHS, I will go forward with organizing a field trip. If interest is low, we will not go and the field trip will not run.

Article IV and Article V improvement workshops continue

Greetings Members,

Based on feedback from last year, we're trying to improve NHS policy in small "chunks" (instead of the improvement committee project we attempted last year).

The first topic up for improvement is our meeting and meeting attendance policies. Meeting attendance expectations must be high enough for meetings to be effective ways to communicate while low enough that they don't feel unfairly burdensome.

On Thursday, October 22, a small team of NHS members took the first crack at updating our policy to match those goals.

Please fill out this form. In it, you will find three ideas proposed by the October 22nd improvement committee.

This Thursday (October 29th) we will discuss the results at this week's optional meeting. We will then make changes to the bylaws that can be voted on during our November 5th mandatory meeting.

Again, please give your feedback on the current language of Article IV and Article V by using this form.

Mr. Ahnert

Thursday October 15 Optional Meeting Attendance

I was looking forward to getting back to business with National Honor Society; I really was. However, my morning and my new family had different plans.

It's important to me that members feel like their efforts are being noticed, which is why I'm taking the time to make an extra post about the subject.

For starters, it was one of the goals we set forth last year that I would reduce my presence in order to allow the officers to really be the individuals in charge of the club. Obviously, Henry (my son) made the plan become very real, very fast. I'd like to take a moment to thank Nick, Rachel, Brian, Nikki, and Julienne for staying in touch with me while I've been out, and running meetings in my absence. It was not the intent that I go completely missing!

And secondly, I'd like to assure the members who have been showing to meetings that these officers have been doing their jobs and recording your attendance. I have already checked with Nick today, and I know he has a list of names that he will get to Brian who in turn will add an attendance credit to each of your records.

Finally, as I continue to look for ways to improve the NHS membership experience while maintaining NHS integrity, I would like to put our attendance policies squarely in our sights. Next Thursday, October 22nd is an optional meeting, and the topic of discussion will be attendance. We will work in committee to examine our current system, and we will recommend a change to be voted on at the November 5th mandatory meeting.

For my part, I am still working with the school to get a second adviser so that I am not the sole adult in charge of unlocking theaters and classrooms, answering questions, signing forms, and all the other ways in which I feel I have not been available enough this year because of the changes in my life. That said, I am available R3 in room 341 and R4 in my office for your questions today. Don't hesitate to track me down.

Mr. Ahnert

2015 Selection Process

A student who has been invited to join NHS needs to submit the following forms to be considered for selection:

• Candidate Information Form (Downloadable Form)
• Candidate Information Form (Online Form)
• Teacher/Faculty Recommendation (Downloadable Form)
• Teacher/Faculty Recommendation (Online Form)

Please use the following links for learning about the Bedford National Honor Society selection process:

• The Selection Process
• Selection Criteria
• Member Obligations

September 17 Update Here is Mr. Ahnert's presentation from the selection information meeting:

NEASC Chapter Service Project

Lauren and her leadership team have put together a Google Doc for us to use for covering all the ways in which NHS members can help Bedford's NEASC visit a success. They have modeled how to use their editable document effectively, please follow suit.

Open in Google Docs

Open in Google Docs

If you were not already aware, your teachers have been working for over a year to prepare for this important visit. The results of this committee's visit may not affect your everyday school life immediately, but know that by signing up to be a part of this, you will actually be a part of the history of Bedford High School. Thanks for your help.

Guides needed for BHS Open House this Thursday night

Details and sign up located on this Google Doc.

Welcome Back Meeting Thursday, September 10th

We will meet in the theater in 7 A.M.. Spread the word; attendance is mandatory for all current members.

Good Morning!

Changes to the balloon fundraiser plan

Juniors!

Cory, Chris, and I have been doing some hard work behind the scenes to make the balloon bouquet fundraiser better planned and smoother for all involved.

This has changed the schedule slightly.

What we'll need is transport on both Friday night and Saturday morning.

Students who work Friday night will be transporting all 536 balloons to the high school. I have booked rooms 136/139 and 137/138 to store all the balloons at the school overnight. Students who work Saturday will then travel to and from the high school graduation morning to complete the deliveries.

Here's what we need:

Friday Drivers Starting at 5pm Friday, pick up balloons from Party City (904 South Willow St, Manchester, NH), and bring them to the high school to drop them off to a humanities room. Job is done when all balloons are at the school.

Bouquet makers If you can't drive (Or if you're uncomfortable driving), we could still probably get help organizing balloons into the bouquets at the high school.

Saturday Drivers Starting at 7am Saturday, pick up balloons (now organized into bouquets) and deliver them to the addresses on each order. Job is done when all bouquets are delivered to their appropriate homes!

We definitely need and appreciate your help!

Senior Cord Recipients

Completion!
The last deadline has passed; the Class of 2015 record has been frozen.

The following Seniors will be receiving their cord Thursday night:

Julie	Aichinger
Ryan	Anastasi
Christina	Anderson
Kyle	Andersson
Nicholas	Angelini
Elias	Ashooh
Kristen	Barnett
Jacob	Bauer
Hannah	Benson
Cassandra	Berger
Olivia	Blake
Valerie	Boles
Hannah	Buss
Andrew	Carter
Colin	Cashin
Tyler	Cibotti
Hannah	Clarke
Scott	Daly
Reema	Danaf
Hannah	Dempsey
Goutham	Deva
Lindsay	Dyrvik
Madison	Earnshaw
Morgan	Edwards
Amanda	Faxon
Connor	Fleischacker
Regina	Flynn
Kevin	Gambeski
Matthew	Gould
Abigail	Guerra
Margaret	Heaps
Samanatha	Hornsby
Jieer	Huang
Rowan	Joyce
Jacqueline	Kapoian
Rachel	LaBonte
Joshua	Lagerquist
Olivia	Lambert
Jessica	Lavine
Brandon	Levenstein
Stacie	Lin
Kelsey	Linehan
Katelyn	Luck
Tristan	Mac Donald
Lauren	Misage
Molly	Morin
Anna	Murphy
Lauren	Prince
John	Prud' homme
Hannah	Purcell
Taylor	Radke
Merrell	Readman
Joshua	Reeks
Nicole	Ruppel
Erika	Rutherford
Karam	Sandhu
Christina	Santini
Audrey	Schappler
Melissa	Schwartz
Sumana	Shashidhar
Hannah	Smith
Sierra	Soghikian
Will	Soghikian
Madison	Speaker
Lauren	Spendley
Olivia	Stanas
Jenna	Suls
Sadhana	Tadepalli
Megan	Tebbenhoff
Michael	Valeri
Ardenio	Valeri
Brett	Veilleux
Haylee	Villemaire
David	Wang
Kelly	Watson
Gwenyth	Winship
Alexandra	Withee
Ryan	Wittenberg
Kira	Yates
Eliza	Zarka

As I have done in the past, I will be sending out a Google doc with a pronunciation guide so that I say your name correctly during the presentation. I will do this via the Remind app.

Dismissal

As stated in our bylaws, NHS membership is conditional to meeting certain goals. I have had to dismiss the following students from National Honor Society for failing to complete their meetings or service responsibilities:

• Thayu Chander
• Matt Dyer
• Thomas Fortin
• Megan Jurnak
• Asad Pasha
• Brayden Reichenback
• Erica Schimmel
• Sam Zeltner

These students were given numerous reminders of their NHS responsibilities, have had year long access to Mr. Ahnert questions about their record, and have passed up extra opportunities like teacher tasks and make-up meetings. Although the appeals process is still in place, this information will be provided to the Faculty Council when they consider the appeal. If a student wishes an appeal, they must contact Mr. Ahnert ASAP. Appeals meetings will take place at BHS on Monday, June 15th.

Reminder

This is a function of how big we are. I can't wait to celebrate the positive on Thursday night. 80 (eighty!!) seniors at Bedford High School are deserving of national recognition. That's an incredible percentage of the overall graduating class, as a community, we should be proud.

Attendance Review Complete

The NHS officers have completed their first review of mandatory meeting excuses for the June 4, 2015 meeting. If your excuse has been accepted, your record has been changed to reflect that. If your excuse was not accepted, you will receive an email from Mr. Ahnert.

Here's the other thing I'm worried about this week...

The picture above represents the number of balloon bouquet orders we have received so far for our fundraiser.

Let's crunch some numbers.

The Good

• 70 * $10 = $700
• 44 * $15 = $660
• Total potentially fundraised = $1360 (minus cost of balloons, see below)

The Concerning

• 70 * 4 = 280 balloons
• 44 * 4 = 176 balloons
• Number of orders we've received = 77
• Therefore, 456 balloons need to be delivered to 77 different places by graduation morning
• Number of Party City locations that are aware we're about to make a huge balloon order = ??

The Terrifying

• Number of cars Chris V told me are ready to work this event Saturday morning = 11
• Number of bouquets (70 + 44)/Number of cars = Each car needs to transport ~ 10 bouquets
• However... 10 bouquets = 40 balloons
• You can't drive with 40 balloons in your car.

I think two things:

1. If we haven't already done so, we need to get Party City in the loop. I will make this call if I have to. But we need to decide for solid when we're going to meet at their locations to create the bouquets and begin delivery.
2. I'm not sure 11 cars are going to cut it. If you can, please get in touch with Chris or Cory. 

We're taking in a lot of money, and promising we can follow through.

I don't sleep much this week.

Teacher Task Sheet for quick reference

Link to editable Teacher Task sheet

Your teachers really care about your success...

... they also hate lifting boxes apparently.

A funny thing happened this weekend. I received an email from a senior NHS member who suddenly found herself short of Chapter Service hours despite her best efforts. Knowing there's only two days to go, she was wondering if there was any other way she could fill that gap with another chapter service project.

I knew that I could just ask the student to sort some binders or something for me, but I didn't think that was in the spirit of Chapter Service. As in, no one would know that this student was giving her time to me because she wanted to uphold the standards of our organization.

Instead, I decided I would shoot an email out to your teachers, principals, counselors, and staff. I knew it was short notice, but I also knew there's lots to do at the end of the year. Plus, I know that when a kid is in need, (and probably more importantly when a kid respectfully asks for help with the need) by nature we want to reach out and do whatever we can. I thought maybe two or three folks would have an idea for this one student...

Within 2 hours I had 6 requests for this one student to help out, and the requests are still coming in.

Here's my request, I'd to turn the tables on this moment. Whether you need hours or not, would you consider reaching out to these teachers this week and helping them finish their year relaxed and rejuvenated?

Working with students like you really boosts us and reminds us what a great job we have. I don't want to let my teacher team down.

Check the Teacher Task Google doc, sign up for a task that interests you. If you need hours, take 'em. If you don't, who cares? These teachers have worked hard to make your year what it was, I think you will enjoy these times to work with them as fellow colleagues sharing the same goal: Finishing this year right, and excited for the next one.

Peer Tutoring Hour Opportunities- In Writing

Hi everyone! Below is the link to a document listing opportunities for NHS members to earn peer tutoring hours by sitting in on an In Writing class and interacting with freshmen. Click on the link and read the information before contacting an In Writing teacher.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19QQ5MJV8KA13H-A-wOgIJiUnEO4LW15kugw-ugvPxu4/edit

Optional Meeting Recap 5/28

If you missed today's meeting, we discussed a few upcoming projects. Here are a few individual and chapter service opportunities that you might want to know.


June 13th They are still looking for a members to volunteer their time for Graduation Balloon Fund Raiser! If you are interested in a great opportunity for chapter service projects, contact Chris Violette or Corey Wallace.

Here is a link to the sign up form:
https://docs.google.com/a/bedfordnhk12.net/forms/d/1-rP4jBjx1gOqv7ia1cA3KOsZHN0bi01vmANw6CP1kmg/viewform


June 17th There is still time to sign up to guide 8th grade tours! This will occur the first day of summer and you will be able to gain at least 2 chapter service hours.

Here is the link to sign up:
https://docs.google.com/a/bedfordnhk12.net/spreadsheets/d/1mxdS8Rsh3-EuA65Jlk-RSbhvtWO41_OEZ5GdAzMPa7U/edit?usp=sharing


Other subjects that were covered:

June 4th There will be a mandatory meeting for Juniors, (and yes there will be bagels). Seniors aren't required to come, but all are welcome!

Also, other upcoming projects are the Relay for Life, Graduation Parking/Ushers, and future volunteer for the BBABC. If you are interested in any of these projects look under the "Current Project Proposals" or "Current Projects Under-Way" tabs!

Senior Warning Letters

If you are a Senior who still feels like you do not know exactly what you need to do to earn your cord, please refer to this document:



Remember, if you received a letter, you need to keep your parents in the loop that you may not be earning a cord with NHS.

I have overheard many of you express that NHS is not something you want to do to people other than myself. I'm asking for your help. I bear no ill will to students who do not want NHS distinction, in fact, I know it is because how many other interests and focuses you have. For my peace of mind, would you please consider telling me that you wish to leave NHS, instead of asking me to track you down and dismiss you. I think that is unfair and unprofessional.

New! NHS Google Calendar

This is a frequent request, and since a few NHS Improvement Committees once again reminded me that in addition to having a meeting schedule that is set as a standard, it'd still be helpful to have an events calendar as well.

Now we have one!

In addition to finding it here on the website, it is also a Google Calendar, which means you can subscribe to it.

Plus, I will give all officers access to the calendar eventually, and they will be able to update it with your NHS project or event.

Does anyone have any projects they'd like to see on it right now? Email me and I'll put it up!

Optional Meeting Report for 5/14

Today's optional meeting covered some chapter service and individual service opportunities, and scheduled future NHS mandatory/optional meetings.

On May 21st (BHS Silver day) there is a mandatory meeting for juniors and seniors. For any seniors that still need their hours to get that chord make sure you're here!

May 28th (BHS Red day) is an NHS optional meeting.

June 4th (BHS Silver day) is a junior only mandatory meeting with bagels, but seniors are free to come (especially if you need meeting hours). And yes... you can have bagels.

A couple other subjects were covered as well:
Remember your improvement committees! If you have found anything that needed changing, report your findings to Mr. Ahnert.

New chapter and individual service projects were introduced!
Relay for Life, Graduation Parking & Ushers, 8th grade tours, and BBABC all need members to help! Also, NHS is looking for leaders to manage the Grad Balloons Fund Raiser. If you're looking for hours, these are some great opportunities!

Unfortunate Revisions to the end of Senior service records

Greetings Membership,

As I already sent out via Remind, tomorrow's meeting has been switched from mandatory to optional. This pushes our next mandatory meeting and Senior service due date to Thursday, May 21.

The reason for this change is easy, the implications and complications, however, are not.

It came to my attention last night that 40 NHS members were in conflict for tomorrow's meeting due to an IB test. Many of those 40 members are Seniors who are in jeopardy of not earning an NHS cord. It is precisely those students that I need to show up so that they can be warned of their dismissal. So, there's no reason to have a mandatory meeting when the members that I need are not the ones that I will get.

This bothers me immensely. Sure, do I need to take into account the IB & AP testing schedule? Yes. And I am, I'm moving our meeting to accommodate it. But, out of those 40 affected students... 2 had the foresight to reach out to me for clarification. The testing schedule has been out for approximately a month. I'm not an IB/AP teacher, so I didn't get a copy. That mistake will be fixed for next year when the NHS adviser is included in the testing plans, but still -- How many text messages do I need to send out to the NHS membership, berating the Seniors that tomorrow was supposed to be a red line due date, before someone warns me that my planning will fall through?

I'm frustrated that I feel alone as your adviser. If you want to help NHS function, help NHS function. Communicate with the community, ask questions, make facebook posts, text me via Remind, tweet at me, keep NHS alive in your thoughts.

If this organization is so far down the list of your priorities, I have to ask again, why did you join?

Too long, didn't read? Here's the break down:

• Tomorrow's meeting, May 14th, is now optional
• Next week's meeting, May 21st, is now mandatory
• Senior hours have been extended another week
• BUT, June 11th is Senior awards night. You don't have a complete record by then? No cord.

Due to scheduling conflicts, no state conference attendance this year.

I am disappointed to make this decision, but I believe it is the right one for our chapter, our school, and our administration.

In order to justify hiring a school bus for our "field trip", I would need to guarantee at least 15 - 20 members. On top of that, I need to reserve a bus with the bus company with more than a week's notice. Finally, because of the testing schedule and environment at BHS right now, scheduling a conference is not a major priority for us.

I want to highlight that many of you expressed interest in going, and I hear your energy and enthusiasm for NHS involvement. Thank you. It is not because of your actions or disinterest that we will not be attending. The state public relations rep emailed me on April 21st with this year's conference details, that was the day before intersession began. At BHS, that is a terrible day for us to start planning attendance to a field trip.

I would rather you focus your attention on your year end studies, I would rather Seniors be focused on getting their last service projects finished and logged, and for improvement committees to have a recommendation to submit to me for May 13th.

My email is open to all communication. If you have questions or critiques about how I handled this year's conference, don't hesitate to get involved and reach out to me. I can't do better by this group without your input and ideas.

Thanks.

BHS Clean Up

Here are some pictures from our most recent chapter project. The BHS spring clean up project was a student imitated and run service event. This demonstrates the NHS tier of service, clearly, but also leadership-- the chapter adviser was only involved in facilitating communication for putting the project together. We pride ourselves on having excellent student leaders.

Thanks for the opportunity, Andrew!

 

Our task for the rest of the year: Improve!

For the remainder of the NHS meetings this year, we will continue to check in with service projects and opportunities that are underway, but a primary goal will be to improve our policies and performance for next year.

First, you have all been divided into Improvement Committees. Follow the link to find your assigned task and check in with your group.

Second, we only have a limited amount of time to actually develop recommendations for us to vote on in a later mandatory meeting. Here is the meeting schedule for the remainder of the year (pay attention to changes):

• April 9th - Optional Meeting
• April 16th - Optional Meeting
• April 23rd - No Meeting scheduled (Intersession)
• If there's student interest, I will open the room for work time. I will be here during intersession.
• April 30th - Spring Vacation
• May 7th - Optional Meeting
• May 14th - Last Mandatory Meeting for Seniors. Service hours due.
• May 21st - Optional Meeting
• May 28th - Bagels!

Third, each Improvement Committee will need to address questions specific to their task. I went over this in the meeting today, but I will list all the committees and their corresponding considerations below for your reference:

• Sony New Service Opportunities
• What Service Opportunities did we miss this year?
• Keep in mind our special challenge, we can expect to have about 180 students in NHS again next year
• How to Report: Sketch a calendar out for next year with activities that we did, plus new ideas, so that we're busy all year.
• Microsoft Article III - Selection
• Keep in mind that only the Adviser and Faculty Council can actually make changes to this process, this is for feedback only.
• Our current GPA requirement is 3.50. Raising the GPA is the only way to restrict membership to NHS. Is it too low?
• Do the Candidate Information packets require too much? Is it too difficult to get teacher recommendations? 
• We currently don't ask selectees to speak on behalf of their character, should we?
• How to Report: Create a document addressed to the Faculty Council with your feedback on the selection process. Keep your tone informative, not in the form of a complaint.
• Uber Article IV - Non-Selection and Article VIII - Dismissal
• Keep in mind that only the Adviser, Faculty Council, and principal can actually make changes to these processes, this is for feedback only.
• Is the way we currently inform students of non-selection clear?
• Is the dismissal process clear and fair?
• How to Report: Create a document addressed to the Faculty Council with your feedback on these processes. Keep your tone informative, not in the form of a complaint.
• Apple Article IX - Character and Participation
• This article is where our current requirements for Peer Tutoring, ISPs, and Chapter Service hours are defined. 
• These hour requirements are for a 2-year NHS member to achieve by graduation. 
• Do we need to clear up the difference between a 1-year and 2-year member?
• Do we need to adjust these numbers at all?
• How to Report: Make a copy of the Bylaws and adjust this article with your changes. We will vote on your amendments at the May 14th meeting.
• Amazon Article X - Officers
• This is where our current Officer structure and voting procedures are defined. 
• Should we add any Officer positions?
• Do we need to change the role requirements of any Officer?
• How do we vote in new Officers?
• How to Report: Make a copy of the Bylaws and adjust this article with your changes. We will vote on your amendments at the May 14th meeting.
• IBM Leadership Requirements
• We currently require Service hours and Peer Tutoring hours, but we do not require that members ever take a leadership position. Should we?
• Any modifications to these policies would be added to Article IX - Character and Participation
• How to Report: Make a copy of the Bylaws and adjust this article with your changes. We will vote on your amendments at the May 14th meeting.
• Google Lead Conferences
• Three times a year, the National organization runs Lead Conferences
• How do we go? We can't send 187 kids.
• How to Report: Develop a process for NHS members to "apply" to attend Lead Conferences. Create documentation that sets us up for possibly attending all 3 conferences next year. Keep in mind fundraising will have to happen. (NHS has money, but we can't afford to send anyone to, for example, AZ for free.)
• Samsung Guest Speakers
• A cheaper way for NHS chapters to bring in Leadership experience to its membership is to bring Leaders of the community to come in and run workshops for only NHS members.
• What would the "perk" of attending a guest speakers' lecture be? Work with the IBM Leadership Requirements committee... maybe there's something here?
• Could we get someone to come to the May 21st optional meeting?
• How to Report: Create a list of potential valuable speakers. Ask administration for help (They are leaders, after all). Possibly schedule a speaker to come in in May.
• Intel Committees
• We could get more done if we split into smaller, more focused groups. As you can see from this activity, we would need about 15 different "committees" to get NHS down to a manageable size
• What could committees work on? Ideas: Communication Committee, Induction Committee, Activity Committee...
• How to Report: Create a list of potential committees. See if you can find a Junior to chair each of these committees. 
• Dell Adviser Evaluation
• I need to know how to improve how I advise your group.
• A professional evaluation should have both a data driven section, and a final, brief, write-up
• How to Report: For the data driven section, create a document that "rates" me in areas of expertise that you would expect an adviser to have. Some examples: Communication, Fairness, etc.. Then, sum up your work with a brief summary of my performance this year.
• LG Electronics Article V - Meetings
• Our current requirement is 1 mandatory meeting a month, a total of 15 meetings by the end of the year.
• Are these numbers fair?
• Are these numbers effective? (i.e.: Is 1 mandatory meeting a month enough to "get stuff done")
• Is Thursday at 7am still the best time?
• How to Report: Make a copy of the Bylaws and adjust this article with your changes. We will vote on your amendments at the May 14th meeting.
• Toshiba School Presence
• What is our role in the life of the school?
• Example: We know that students join DECA to gain experience in the business world, and we know that students join Model UN to gain diplomatic and political experience; why do students join NHS?
• How to Report: Develop a mission statement for the Bedford High School chapter of the National Honor Society. View the high school mission statement for ideas.
• Facebook State Chapter
• In addition to our school chapter of NHS, there is also a New Hampshire National Honor Society.
• What is BHS's commitment to the state organization?
• What does the state organization want more of from us?
• How to Report: Develop at least one commitment to state activities. For this year, there should be a Spring Conference coming up that Bedford should commit to joining.
• Twitter Member Perks
• You've worked hard to get NHS distinction. We know this looks good for applying to college, but that's a one and done sort of deal.
• What can we do to improve the life of a BHS NHS member?
• Could we use our funds to secure "perks" for our group?
• How to Report; Develop a list of perk ideas that Mr. Ahnert could bring to the high school administration. No guarantees, but if you have reasonable requests, we might give more for that membership card to do.
• HP Article VI - Attendance
• Our current meeting attendance policy is as such:
• Miss one mandatory meeting --> Probation
• Miss a mandatory meeting while on probation --> Dismissal
• Is this policy effective? Fair?
• What constitutes an "excused absence"? Anything?
• How can we better take attendance (i.e.: How can we avoid standing in a long line to sign in each mandatory meeting)
• Should we dissolve mandatory meetings altogether?
• Coordinate with Article V - Meetings
• How to Report: Make a copy of the Bylaws and adjust this article with your changes. We will vote on your amendments at the May 14th meeting.

Let's work hard this month, I look forward to seeing what we come up with by May 14th!

2016 Officers Have Been Selected

The entire group should be proud of how smoothly we ran and completed our 2016 Officer Elections. Congrats go to the following students:

• President Nick Correia
• Vice President Rachel Larrivee
• Secretary Brian Russell
• Treasurer Nikki Tucci
• Historian Julienne Mumpini

The other candidates who have not been selected should also be praised for their desire to lead, their commitment to our club, and their ability to take risks. If you have questions about the final vote count, I will share that information on an individual basis, but I see no reason to publicly publish the numbers in order to best protect the pride of our lowest vote getters. You are all equal in my eyes, regardless of where you finished in your election.

Standards of Membership Reminder

Yesterday was great, but back to serious business. It is my job to ensure that NHS standards are kept by all members, otherwise what do our standards mean? According to our attendance records, several Senior members now need to be dismissed for unexcused absences, and several Junior members will now need to be put on attendance probation.

Was your absence from the March 5th mandatory meeting excused? If so, you need to communicate that to Kevin or myself ASAP!

Please be timely Thursday

Our club will be getting a visit from our Superintendent, Mr. McGee, this Thursday. He's stopping by to say hello and enjoy an opportunity to meet you.

I know that the number of us will be very impressive, but it would be great if our timeliness and professionalism could be on display as well.

We'll have a packed meeting with Junior elections happening last, so we need to do as much pre-planning as we can.

1. Here is the agenda. You need to contact leadership if you wish to be added to the agenda.
2. Here is the Junior Election interest. Please be on this list as soon as you our sure you're interested in pursuing an officer position. 
3. When you're looking for your name, remember that sign in is organized by class and then alphabetically. 
4. Signed warning letters go to Mr. Ahnert, checks and cash for dues go to Karam.  

NHS Pictures

I hope all of you are enjoying the break and awesome skiing conditions! Just a quick reminder for when we do get back from break is that the NHS Picture committee is looking for pictures of students taking an active role in the community (either in individual or community service activities). Do not worry about sending them right now, but after we get back we are hoping to start compiling what we have. They can be sent to either me or Mike Valeri at our BHS accounts whenever. Thanks again :)  

Receive NHS alerts quickly via Remind.com

As I mentioned during our now infamous snowstorm meeting, I am on the lookout for ways I can quickly contact the membership.

We have great resources like our bulletin board, our Facebook, and our Twitter, but all of those resources require you to check in with NHS. In an emergency like snowmaggedon, we need to be able to contact you.

I am going to try using the web tool Remind.com. Sign up to receive messages from NHS via this web page.

This is not official policy yet, but I need to try it in order to determine its effectiveness.

NHS Meeting Weather Announcement

With only 1 - 3 inches in the forecast, the mandatory meeting is still to occur tomorrow morning as scheduled. The meeting will only be cancelled if there is announced delay or closing.

We will be taking attendance tomorrow. If the commute is slippery, we will not count tardies, but we will mark unexcused absences. Please check in with Kevin as soon as you arrive.

Drive carefully. You don't need to rush, you just need to get here.

Mandatory Meeting is this Thursday

Hm. I must have misspoke at our last meeting and caused some confusion.

We do not have a meeting this Wednesday. This Thursday is the first one of the month, and therefore it is our normal mandatory meeting in the theater.

Reminder, we are doing a final collection of your $20 dues.

See you then!

Optional NHS meeting tomorrow in 113/115

Remember new NHS members, meetings are held every week.

These smaller meetings are useful for asking questions of our officers, getting some face time with me, and using the available computers for updating your records.

Please consider coming. We will be introducing the Juniors to their record keeping responsibilities.

MathCounts Competition- 20-25 members wanted

Hello all NHS members! Due to the unfortunate situation with the delay today, I was not able to talk to all of you about the upcoming MathCounts Competition. I am in the process of drafting a project proposal which should hopefully be updated to the website by tomorrow night. That being said the competition is going to be held as of today on January 31st or February 7th, if there is a snow cancellation. Please email me if you are interested in participating at my school email account. Members would be expected to show up on the day of the competition and grade students' papers using a key. I am looking for about 20-25 students who would want to participate. This is a great service project, NHS opportunity for required hours, and will only take approximately 3 hours of your time. Sign up today!

Meeting Cancelled

Welcome back from break everyone!

I have decided that we should not try and hold a meeting tomorrow morning. It will be bitterly cold and tough to get in to school on time.

I would like Juniors to get a feel good start to their NHS career, and tomorrow is not going to feel good.

Once again, tomorrow morning's NHS meeting is cancelled. We will try to meet on the 22nd and start the second half of our year then!

Stay warm!