Accompanies 10 present members
On March 18th, the Gillespie Chapter of the National Honor Society gathered for its annual induction ceremony. The Gillespie Chapter was organized in 1935 and members are elected by the faculty on the basis of the tenets: scholarship, leadership, character, and service.
Members are required to have and maintain an overall GPA of 3.3 or higher, 10 hours of community service, 6 high school or outside activities, and a character evaluation by the teachers. The organization strives to encourage enthusiasm for good scholarship, service to school and community, and desire for higher education.
Abbie Cline welcomed the new seventeen new members with an opening speech. Cline touched on the high standards that are required to be in the prestigious National Honor Society and reminded the members that they were chosen and not elected nor nominated. “The faculty is honoring you from your accomplishments and the promise you hold,” Cline opened.
Present members took turns at the podium explaining what the colors mean, what the emblem means, what the tenets mean, and finally gave a brief summary to wrap the program up before guest speakers took the podium. “It is an honor,” Nicole Semanik noted.
Seventeen new members were inducted to the 2012 society. New members were senior Dallas DeMartini and juniors: Jessica Baumann, Alexis Burns, Kortney Carr, Brenden Engelke, Kylie Frensko, Patterson Friese, Allison Goldasich, Michael Halpin, Abigail Harszy, Shelby Jarman, Haylie Kirkwood, Zachary Logan, Taylor Monke, Kaci Petri, Katie Stromsland, and Jade Tieman.
The seventeen members joined the current ten members that were chosen during their junior year. Current members were: Abbie Cline (president), Michael Taylor (vice-president), Laura Halpin (secretary), Nicole Semanik (treasurer), Kaitlynn Hitch, Loni Nicole Manalia, Ricky Mock, Beth Ray, Brooklyne Ruckman, and Adam Schmidt.
Assistant Superintendent Joe Tieman was the featured speaker for the evening. Tieman was quite surprised he was chosen for to speak for the evening. Actually, he even thought he was done giving speeches as he noted he has given more than 25 speeches over the last decade pertaining to National Honor Society dinners, graduation ceremonies, or Honor Banquets.
The group of students in the society are, “very close to my heart,” Tieman opened. “There is a since of validation felt by the faculty members here tonight.” Tieman went on, these professionals have dedicated their careers in helping you uphold the foundation on which the foundation of which the National Honor Society is built.
“The futures for all these National Honor Society members are very bright,” Tieman explained, “The new inductees are joining an impressive group of present members.” He went on to say that he spent the last week studying the four tenets and their relationship to the new inductees.
Tieman twisted the tenets to give them his own meaning of each. “Scholarship,” Tieman started, “Is hard work and consistency. It is day in and day out, night in and night out, which is preparing for class every day.” He moved to leadership and explained that they need to be leaders because there are followers.
He referred to the members when he said, you are willing to be an individual no matter the cost. The third tenet was character. “Character is defined by your everyday action regardless of the circumstances – you do the right thing.”
Finally, service is to give one’s self to give a better life to a friend or stranger alike. Tieman went on to add a fifth tenet, respect. Respect is valued on a daily basis, according to Tieman. “I believe you will go far in life if you respect what the National Honor Society stands for. This begins to respect the education process as you move forward in your career.”
Current 2012 Members
Inducted 2012 Members
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