001all right so okay hey hey how are ya um okay hey where is everybody so yes like sometimes you number three two minutes well good afternoon everyone welcome what a glorious afternoon to come together and celebrate some of our most talented um and dedicated students thank you very much before we even begin how about a nice big round of applause for all of our inductees today so my name is troy gobble and it is my honor to be the principal at stevenson high school and i couldn't be happier to be in front of you today to get a chance to celebrate our students um often in these moments i like to steal from our namesake ed ly stevenson um a lot of really amazing quotes he's provided us over time um and one of my
002favorites at a graduation ceremony in 1956 he said when you leave here don't forget why you came and i think that's an important graduation statement but i think it's just as critical for those of us joining the national honor society as you come here as you join as you become a part of this organization don't forget what it was that brought you here to begin with don't forget that application process don't forget the things you did to get yourself to this point and for those of you that don't know let me take a minute and share a little bit of history of where the national honor society has come from and its purpose the national association of secondary school principals officially established the national honor society in 1921. there were many local and regional groups
003to celebrate leadership and service and wonderful students before that but no nationwide organization had ever been founded under the leadership of dr edward reinerson he was the principal in pittsburgh an organization grew um from that little fifth avenue school to more than a thousand chapters by 1930 and we're up to you know thousands of chapters around the world it's got a constitution and an emblem and all of those things point back to the four pillars of this organization you're going to hear a little bit about each of these today from our students who will explain it way better than i ever could but just to get us started the purpose of this organization for all of us is to create enthusiasm for scholarship we're going to work hard to be the best students that we
004can number two to stimulate desire um and rendering of service how can we help our fellow man number three to promote leadership what does it mean to be a leader in a school especially a school of 4 400 students and lastly how do we ensure that we're developing men and women of great character in our secondary schools so those are the four things that you're going to hear a little bit about today but i think before i turn it over to the kids um i want to say this to our inductees and i think this is an important point and a difference that you need to be aware of national honor society is not a trophy it's not something that you earn and you set on a shelf and you just walk away from it's
005an organization it's a group and we're dedicated to help helping our community and helping to make our school a better place and so for all of you i challenge you over the next year or two that you're at stevenson work hard work hard to help this be the best organization it can be work hard to achieve those values of scholarship and service and leadership and character don't think of this as a moment in time something to put on your college application think of it as an organization that can help change and better this school every day so i really want to challenge you to that and to that point just one last thing one last thought and then i will turn it over to the kids um i want to think a little bit about
006this idea of leadership for a moment just yesterday i don't know if any of you were able to attend but we held our first ever prom right here on stevenson's campus we called it the promise anybody there yeah got a couple of a couple of applause yeah all right i hope you enjoyed yourselves i will tell you um i've been here for 10 years as principal it was uh one of the best events that i've ever been a part of partly because um you know we just missed that interaction with kids and seeing seeing their happiness seeing how excited they were um watching them get dressed up and sort of that transformation into young adults was fantastic but after the last 16 months it was even more even more meaningful for all of us and
007i think the thing that struck me the most was this was not prom it wasn't prom like you all moms and dads you went to prom when you were kids it didn't look like that didn't look like the prom i went to it didn't look like any of the nine proms that i've come to before from stevenson but it was a fantastic experience and so here's my challenge to you all the new inductees how do we return to school next year we're going to have a phenomenal opportunity to change the way that we work as a school and if we're going to be the leaders of that school you're as much responsible for that work as us and we are more than happy to work with you to make that happen what are lessons from
008the last 15 or 16 months we can take away to make this a better school how can this group help to make the rest of the student body move forward when we have the freshmen come next year there's going to be 500 sophomores who've never been in the building yet what are we going to do as leaders to help them with that transition i'm so thrilled to have this group of talented kids to help us with that and i'm going to leave you with one last thing from adlai one other quote he said every age needs people who will redeem the time by living with a vision of the things that are to be i can't wait to find out what the things that are to be for us so one last round of applause
009for the folks that are getting inducted can't wait and now we are going to hear from some of our senior officers and they're going to discuss those four pillars we're going to start with scholarship let me bring to the stage james kim thank you mr gobble hello everyone my name is james kim and i'm a current executive board member of the national honor society and once again i want to congratulate you on your induction to nhs with that said i want to begin by talking to you about one of our fillers which is scholarship when it comes to scholarship you might first think of the gpa requirement to be a part of the national honor society however in reality scholarship means more than more than just getting good grades for us for nhs members scholarship
010represents our desire to learn new things and to approach them with the welcoming attitude we strive not only to make ourselves better in the classroom but outside the classroom as well this desire to learn translates to a desire to make a difference in the community and to experience various service opportunities that we can grow from for example as an nhs member you might find yourself at homes middle school for our service outreach program tutoring middle schoolers and spreading this value of scholarship furthermore scholarship also represents our work ethic and a sense of responsibility as high school students we dedicate our time and effort to participate in class keep up with homework and study for tests this is a determination and endurance will also be a major factor when it comes to service because it allows
011us to make a consistent impact over a long period of time which can build up throughout the year you'll have the opportunity to participate regularly in service opportunities such as attending community meetings for planning for events like street fest giveathon blood drives and more in the upcoming year as nhs members i encourage you all to uphold this pillar of scholarship whether that be in class or during nhs service events i hope that through your participation you can learn ways to make a big difference in yourself and the community thank you with that said i'll be introducing our next speaker which is noah sevcik who'll be talking about leadership hello everyone i'm noah sevcheck i'm another member of our national honor society executive board before i begin i'd like to tell a short story about a
012service experience i've had during my time here at stevenson as a junior back when life was still normal i was sitting in the performing arts center with my freshman during our advisory as i looked over i watched my freshman joke and laugh with each other after hours of nervous apprehension despite listening to them mumble under their breath for hours about how pointless advisory was i was glad to see that they were becoming comfortable in the unfamiliar environment of stevenson although they would never acknowledge it us fmps are there to affect those that we mentor from day one and i'm here to talk about that effect some of you are fmps some of you are older siblings like myself and some of you are captains of your sports teams yet i know that your leadership experiences
013extend far beyond that of sibling duties or captainships in this club you have the choice to expose yourself to a myriad of leadership opportunities and i'm here to talk about that at giveathon you lead other students in organizing gifts to children in need and what might be a time commitment an effort or just a point on a resume for you may be one of the happiest days of that kid's life with our global goals project you lead a group of students in writing to a nursing home and just like that kid those nursing home residents may find it to be the best part of their week reading your letters your actions as a leader in this club make kids smile without your leadership without your drive to do good in our community he wakes up
014on christmas morning without a gift without your leadership no letters go out to seniors and without your leadership this club ceases to function what we do doesn't happen without you taking charge and leading others to complete our mission now even despite your genuine leadership you might very well be sitting in your chair thinking of nhs as a means to an end another accolade on a college resume and when i sat in your seat two years ago i thought the same thing i laughed at the idea that my actions as a leader could affect change in my community of course how can i one singular person from a suburb that nobody's heard about changed someone's life but the kid who is on the other end of your leadership experiences is not thinking the same thing i'm
015not here to lecture you on what a leader looks like or what we think a leader should look like because we don't really know either you can be a leader in this club no matter who you are what you've done or what traits you have all you need to do is step up because in reality making somebody feel good does not take much of your time it is your individual drive to do good in our community that gets things done and that drive is why you all have tremendous leadership potential i'm excited to see where that potential takes you in your remaining time at stevenson so while you're here lead your peers but most importantly lead yourself to serve our mission of bettering our communities our nhs chapter will not create world peace or end
016cyclical poverty in one fell swoop not even the united nations can really do that yet it makes you feel good knowing that you've made somebody else's day no matter how big or small the action was you have the power to do that so remember the real people who are on the other end of your leadership just like that kid take charge to make sure they end their days with a smile on their face too thank you and now shreya will be introducing our next pillar thank you noah hi everyone my name is shrey mumati and i'm one of this year's e-board members it's amazing seeing all of you here and even more amazing that you're all about to be inducted into nhs i remember when i was first inducted into nhs and how intimidated i
017was by the sheer size of it i didn't know how i would make an impact in an organization that's so big but i found my way in one of the key foundational pillars of nhs service what makes nhs special is its commitment to the betterment of our community as a whole rather than just within stevenson our members constantly strive to become part of a community around them by spending hours days or even weeks to help those in need not only does service give members of the stevenson community a way to serve our own community but it gives insight into the lives of people around us while either helping organize an event raise money or lead service allows us to build a connection to empathize and to increase our involvement in our communities service is not
018just something that fulfills a requirement or looks good on application it's something that makes you feel grateful as you witness all it has to offer through events hosted by our own school we see how simple acts of service can range from giving the gift of joy to a child on christmas morning or giving the gift of employment to adults with autism and so much more service is in is infinitely diverse and this quality is one of the reasons it's always been such a prominent pillar of nhs being a part of this organization we invite you to explore the diversity opportunity and experiences service has to offer we hope to see you participate create and commit to fundamental values embedded within our organization but most of all we want you to find passion in it we
019implore you to look beyond simple requirements and to find passion in connecting with the people around you and the community within and to cherish the experiences you become a part of don't get me wrong not every act of service is a fiery act of passion because sometimes service just isn't like that sometimes service is about considering the bigger picture and knowing that even though your work may seem small in the face of a huge crisis it's efforts like yours that make a difference service varies greatly in its influence and here at nhs we hope you choose to take part in all it has to offer thank you and now i'd like to introduce malham sheikh who will be talking about our pillar of character thank you treya good afternoon and congratulations to our newly inducted
020national honor society members my name is mohammed shaikh and i serve on this year's national honor society executive board today i will be speaking about the character pillar henry david thoreau once said you cannot dream yourself into a character you must hammer and forge yourself one as high school students we are at a ripe age to build our character and embody characteristics that we will uphold for the rest of our lives our character defines how we treat one another and the values we represent quality such as integrity respect compassion and optimism can be shown through simple actions such as helping a friend with homework or larger actions such as fundraising and campaigning for a school event stevenson is full of students who embody outstanding character if you look around you'll see students who spend hours
021running school-wide events and who are always willing to reach out and help others throughout high school there are many obstacles and crossroads that we will have to face especially at an amazing school like stevenson however the way you persevere through these hardships allows you to build your character nhs will prepare you all for personal development growth and realization being surrounded by the most resilient hard-working individuals you'll ever meet will motivate you to become a better person your character thus far has allowed you to join the stevenson nhs chapter and now you will become the role models that younger generations will look up to feel free to take risks and to stand up for what you believe in as this allows for change to be initiated into progress especially through your service activities inspire the kids
022through homes tutoring to join you on this journey for growth and motivate your fellow peers to participate in events such as giveathon or bernie's book bank just remember that nobody is perfect and how we react to our mistakes is also a representation of our character each and every one of us has unique qualities and is our responsibility as nhs members to go out there and uphold our moral codes with good intentions thank you [Applause] we will now be introducing our induction video for this year which kind of represents all of the events that nhs does and just kind of embodies all the four characteristics that we just spoke about [Applause] okay thank you once again to leila kenny and desegna for that amazing induction video we really appreciate that and we know how much time
023you spend on that and once again thank you and so my name is arthur breznikov and we're going to continue with the nhs pledge so i'd like to ask all the current inductees to stand up and put their right hand up and repeat after me okay i pledge to maintain high scholastic standing to hold as fundamental and worthy and untarnished character to endeavor intelligently and courageously to be a leader and to give myself freely in service to others in doing so i shall prove worthy of a place in the national honor society congratulations inductees you are now officially a part of stevenson's chapter of natural honor society now i'd like to welcome mr erdmann stevenson's national honor society chapter uh sponsor to the podium congratulations on your nhs induction this will look great on your
024college resume it's a milestone that will distinguish you from other people and get you one step closer to that great school where you'll finally be incredibly happy it's a prestigious award recognizing all the great things you've done it's an honor that opens doors for you it means that you're smart accomplished and destined for greatness no no none of these things really ring true being inducted means that you've been identified as having potential in fact the word induction is defined as bringing about or giving rise to something induction is not a celebration of our shared awesomeness and our golden futures we're here to celebrate the fact that 426 individuals with a variety of interests and skill sets can expand the ability of our organization to help the poor disconnected and disenfranchised we're also celebrating that you
025get to have a powerful service learning experience through your work in our organization it is our hope that you will leave nhs transformed with the abilities and passion to affect meaningful change in the world i know some people in the audience are saying yes yes of course service to others but there has to be some individual benefit prior to the covid pandemic a consortium of decision makers from over 80 universities including harvard and yale organized a group called making caring common in 2016 they released a report entitled turning the tide inspiring concern for others and the common good through college admissions although selective in their admission standards these universities had come to the realization that they had been admitting the wrong type of student former yale professor and author william darashevitz dubbed these students excellent
026sheep in his book dara shevitz writes that the system manufactures students who are smart and talented and driven yes but also anxious timid and lost with little intellectual curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose trapped in a bubble of privilege heading neatly in the same direction great at what they're doing but with no idea why they're doing it as a group these universities have decided to re-examine their admission policies they're de-emphasizing act and sat scores in some cases making them optional they're limiting the number of activities that students can list on their apps putting the focus on student reflections they're encouraging fewer ap courses wow what are they looking for now passion authenticity and kindness and the cove pandemic has just really reinforced all these traits that they're looking for these are things that are
027hard to fake and require a robust sense of self they also require legitimate and challenging experiences working with other human beings so what will your nhs membership card and pin do for you nothing even colleges and universities admit that the designation alone is largely meaningless however and here's here's the big however you can work with us to acquire the skills and mindsets to be the type of person that you'd like to see attending harvard yale the university of illinois the college of lake county or yes even augustana college that's my alma mater i had to give it a shout out and college admissions has nothing to do with why we do this we serve because it's the right thing to do in nhs you can serve in hundreds of different ways you can lead amazing
028events you can do work that is specific to your passions and meaningful to you you can become the type of person you'd like to see doing stem research passing laws in the illinois legislature or growing carrots on an organic form ultimately the honor and national honor society has nothing to do with awards accolades elite universities prestigious associations or professions it's simply about how we carry ourselves and the intentional drive to help others our seniors graduate very soon and they understand the meaning of honor they've left a strong foundation for you to continue to expand the capacity of nhs to serve those in need today we also address another transition i call this the changing of the guard we say goodbye to our current executive board and officially transfer power to the newly elected board and
029these chairs before you are 12 extraordinary individuals who have led the stevenson chapter of the national honor society through its most challenging year in school history most importantly i want to recognize them for all the things that can't be measured the wonderful memories eighth period zoom meetings filled with energetic idea sharing and silliness the creative reimagining of school events to work in virtual and hybrid environments and the simple day-to-day interactions where i was able to watch you grow up eboard i'm proud of your past accomplishments and i'm hopeful that your future paths lead to fulfillment and happiness but i'm most proud of who you are i'm proud of the things you did with no expectations of receiving anything in return you gave freely in the hopes of bringing about meaningful change in the lives of
030those who needed it you approached your work with passion purpose and a focus on engaging the community please stand when i call your name thank you so much for your service arthur bereznikov caroline mazur soraka david bayer emily kim james kim kenny wan leila wang maham sheikh [Applause] and last but not least tiffany lee and now i'd like to introduce the 2021 nhs executive board dylan ivanov jaden varghese janavi joshi jasmine's son josenya partha sarathy julia chen manal muhammad who couldn't be with us today olivia defalco prachi guillenmote richie zachariah who also couldn't be with us today shreya sharma and shoham sarkar and now please welcome sabrina [Applause] thank you mr erdmann hi everyone i'm sabrina kozrowitzki and now former member of the nhs executive board wow that's really crazy to say especially since the
03112 of us have only met in person once other than filming that video you guys saw today so i don't know if you know this but our sponsor's most important role is keeping us from getting too violent when we fight i'm kidding of course but really this year our sponsors were tasked with getting us to talk to each other in the first place we might think that a mute button in real life is great but our board can attest that it's really not so i can joke all i want about this year but we really could not have had one of our most successful giveathons created global goals or resale riverside events for the first time without the help of our sponsors the four of them have been there for the twelve of us helping
032navigate through the crazy year of unknowns i would first like to start off by thanking mrs albert miss hike and mrs osick you guys were always available for whichever day the 13 of us decided on during our eighth period meetings you attended each one of our generals each semi-last minute committee meeting and any informational meeting that we hosted for our members we love all the creative and organizational input you are always willing to give and of course mrs albert's jokes that always lighten the mood thank you so much for supporting and always being there for us and lastly on behalf of the rest of eboard i would like to thank mr erdmann he is a sponsor who is not only there to improve the quality of our membership or the service opportunities we present to
033our membership but also to improve the quality of us as people i don't think any of us can deny that we have learned so much from mr erdmann and maybe even a little bit more than in some of our classes this year this organization would not have been the same without him there is no one more committed to teaching students that service can be a part of everyday life than mr erdmann thank you so much for guiding us our e-board new e-board and in the near future our inductees a new e-board although you may not have the opportunity to be with mr erdman every single day during 8th period next year i'm sure you'll still hear enough of his dad jokes and many many important life lessons thank you so much to all of our
034amazing sponsors and now i present to you caroline mazur soraka with the final speech today thank you sabrina as our induction ceremony comes to a close it is time to celebrate and welcome you to stevenson's national honor society my name is caroline mazer soraka and i'm beyond excited to have you join me my peers and our sponsors in taking our four pillars in stride to impact our community though this past year has brought its difficulties you are here today because you have persevered and continued to uphold your scholarship leadership service and character even among the most challenging of times your membership in nhs is truly more than recognition over the next one or two years you are given the platform to plan fundraise and help those in your surrounding community who need it most so
035come to street fest and learn about the charities we're supporting save three lives by donating to our blood drive lead your classmates to support a family in need as a giveth on leader and promote participation in st baldrick's to your friends and family members and maybe even shave your head if you're feeling adventurous rather than simply accruing service hours you have so many outlets to channel your individual interests towards creating your own impact on the community more than anything being a member of national honor society is an opportunity one that can only achieve its highest potential with your effort and dedication pursue the causes that you are passionate about and you will find a community of fellow members who will support or join your initiative our national honor society's success is reliant on shared service
036advocacy that now as an inductive member you can be an even greater part of every student here who has spoken to you was once seated in the audience of an nhs induction ceremony just like you are here today though we were a little more crammed together in the performing arts center while there have been numerous adaptations since we were in your position the collective determination of national honor society members to serve the community has stayed the same and continues with you it is your time now to celebrate your induction we see your potential to uphold your scholarship lead among your peers become a service advocate and exemplify strong character thank you for your service and leadership contributions to the world so far and i look forward to the impact you will make for the next
037few years and beyond congratulations on your membership in nhs our induction ceremony has officially concluded so you are all free to go and thank you so much for coming today if you'd like to take some pictures you can take any over here and we also have our four pillar flags hanging right behind that set of stadium bleachers so thank you all right good afternoon everyone what a glorious afternoon to come together and celebrate the work of some of our students um i want to kick off the ceremony today with a big round of applause for all of our inductees let's hear it for the folks that are coming into our national honor society congratulations on this honor my name is uh troy gobble and i am honored to be the principal of stevenson high school
038and uh each year we get a chance to really celebrate the work of a fantastic group of our students and this year uh all of you are out here in the crowd we've got about 426 inductees uh we've done two ceremonies so this is the second half of the group um i like to rely back on adelaide stevenson and some of the quotes that he's done over time using our namesake at a graduation ceremony in 1956 one of the things that he left with that group of graduates was a statement he said when you leave here don't forget why you came and i think that's an important graduation statement but i think it's just as important for this organization so i want you to take a second and i just want you to contemplate why
039why are we here why are you here um inductees why did you make this choice and this year for the first time ever typically when we do these inductions we have all the students in the front all the families in the back to celebrate but today i want to take advantage of the idea that we're sitting together so i want you to turn uh turn to your student and uh students our inductees you just filled out an application to join nhs i want you to share with your family what was what were you most proud of on that application so when you took some time to share that application with us what was the idea that you were most proud of go ahead turn and talk to the folks next to you what were you
040most proud of in your application all right thank you very much for sharing that idea i think it's important that we think through that and again that's part of this idea when you leave here today don't forget why you came those are the ideas about why you came to this organization and i want to spend a minute just give you a little history lesson uh national honor society was founded in it was created by a group of national high school principals that wanted to recognize and really empower students to lead and change the buildings they were in when they created this new organization there were four pillars that are at the fundamental nature of this group and you are going to hear some students come up and reflect on those pillars in a minute let
041me just tell you a little bit about them the purpose of national honor society shall be to create enthusiasm for scholarship number one is scholarship number two to stimulate a desire to render service for others so service number three to promote leadership how do we help our students become better leaders in their organization and lastly to develop character in the students to raise those wonderful men and women who will eventually be leading our community and our country so how do we work on how do we talk about these four things i think um one thing you're going to hear loud and clear today and i want to i want to start off with this the journey of becoming a member of the national honor society it is not it's not a trophy this is not
042one of those things like when you win you know you win the local championship in baseball and you put that trophy on your desk and it's done when you become a member of national honor society that's the beginning of the journey right and so this is a commitment to helping this school and your community become a better place i want to spend just a minute or two talking about this idea of leadership before i turn it over to the kids yesterday i don't know if any of you were here i was lucky enough and a few of us were lucky enough to attend our prom activity yesterday we called it prom ish and it was uh quite honestly one of my favorite experiences in my ten years as being principal and i think because we
043came together to develop an idea of what prom could be the students that were in that group the adults it didn't look like prom that any of you had ever went to it didn't look like the prom that i went to as a kid it didn't look like the last nine years of prom but it was still an opportunity for that group of students to get together to you know to dress up act like an adult for the night have a great time see each other and really um just get to be a high school kid a thing that we've missed a lot this year and then we got all done with the ceremony i'm like this was this was awesome how amazing was it that we came together and we thought differently we created
044this experience and so here's my challenge to you if leadership is a fundamental part of the national honor society inductees i want you to think what are you gonna do over the next year or two as a member of national honor society to make this a better school and quite honestly at the point we're in right now with the things that have happened over the last 14 months when we come to back to school in the fall when we get back to the school it's gonna be different right hopefully it's not different worse hopefully it's different better what are the things we're going to do to work what will returning to school look like how are we going to use the lessons in the last 15 months to make this a better institution to make
045it a better place for kids so we learn more and we can better serve our community how will you help lead the student body forward in the fall those are the questions that i want you to consider today we're going to need your help with that and everything else as we come back but before i turn it over to the kids i'm going to ask one last time for a big round of applause for our inductees as we head off on that journey and now it is my honor to introduce um our students as they're going to introduce to you these four pillars we're going to start with the pillar of scholarship and let me bring james kim up to the podium hello everyone my name is and i'm a current executive board member of
046the national honor society and once again i would like to congratulate you on your induction to nhs with that said i want to begin by talking to you about one of our four pillars which is scholarship when it comes to scholarship you might first think of the gpa requirement to be a part of the national honor society however in reality scholarship means more than just maintaining good grades to us for nhs members scholarship represents our desire to learn new things and to approach them with a welcoming attitude we strive not only to make ourselves better in the classroom but outside the classroom as well and this desire to learn translates to our desire to make a difference in the community and to experience various service opportunities in which we can grow from for example as
047an nhs member you might see yourself at homeless middle school for our service outreach program tutoring middle schoolers and spreading this value scholarship furthermore scholarship also represents our work ethic and a sense of responsibility as high school students we dedicate our time and effort to participate in class keep up with homework and study the tests this determination and endurance will also be a major factor when it comes to serving the community since it allows us to make a consistent impact that can build over time throughout the year you'll have the opportunity to participate regularly in service opportunities such as attending community meetings to plan for events like street fest giveathon blood drive and more in the upcoming year as nhs members i encourage you all to uphold this pillar of scholarship whether that be in
048class or during nhs service events i hope that through your participation you can learn ways to make a big difference in yourself and the community thank you with that said i'll turn it over to noah he'll be talking about leadership hello everyone i'm noah i'm another member of our lovely national honor society executive board before i begin i'd like to tell a short story about a service experience i've had during my time here at stevenson as a junior back when our life was still normal i was sitting in the performing arts center during our freshman orientation day as i looked over i watched my freshman joke and laugh around with each other after hours of nervous apprehension despite listening to them mumble under their breath for hours about how pointless advisory was i was glad
049to see them become comfortable in the environment of stevenson and although they would never acknowledge it us fmps are here to affect those that we mentor in positive ways from day one i'm here to talk about that effect now some of you are fmps some of you are older siblings some are captains of your sports teams yet your leadership experiences extend far beyond that of sibling duties obligations or captainships in this club you have the choice to expose yourself to a myriad of leadership opportunities and i'm here to talk about just that at givathon you lead other students in organizing gifts to be delivered to children in need and what might be a time commitment an effort or a point on a resume for you may be one of the happiest days of that kid's
050life with our global goals project you lead a group of students in writing to a nursing home and just like that kid those nursing home residents may find it to be the best part of their week reading your letters your actions as a leader in this club make kids smile and without your leadership without your drive to do good in the community he wakes up on christmas morning without a gift without your leadership no letters go out to seniors without your leadership this club ceases to function what we do just doesn't happen without you taking charge and getting others to complete our mission even despite your genuine leadership that has brought you here today you might very well be sitting in your chair thinking of nhs as a means to an end or another accolade
051on a college resume when i sat in your seat two years ago i thought the same thing i laughed at the idea that my actions as a leader could be making any difference in my community of course how could i a singular person from a suburb that nobody has ever heard about actually make a positive change in my community but the kid or the nursing home resident who's on the other end of your leadership is not thinking the same thing now i'm not here to lecture you on or what we think a leader should look like you can be a leader in this club no matter who you are what traits you have or what you've done all you need to do is step up because in reality making someone feel good does not take
052much of your time it is your individual drive to do good things that improves our community that drive is why you all have tremendous leadership potential i'm excited to see where that potential takes you in your remaining time at stevenson so while you're here lead your peers but most importantly lead yourself to serve our mission of benefiting our communities our nhs chapter will not end cyclical poverty nor will it create world peace yet it makes you feel good knowing that you've made someone else's day just one person no matter how big or small that action was you have the power to do that so please remember the real people on the other end of your leadership take charge to make sure they end their days with a smile on their face too [Applause] service hi
053everyone my name is trey mimadi and i'm one of this year's executive board members of nhs it's amazing seeing you all here seeing all of you here today and even more amazing that you're all about to be inducted into nhs i remember when i was first inducted into nhs and how intimidated i was by the sheer size of it i don't know how i would make an impact in an organization that was so huge but i found my way in one of the key foundational pillars service what makes nhs special is its commitment to the betterment of our community as a whole rather than just within stevenson our members constantly strive to become part of the community around them by spending hours days or even weeks to help those in need not only does service
054help members of the stevenson community to help their community but it also gives insight into the lives of the people around them while either helping organize an event raise money or lead service allows us to build a connection to empathize and to increase our awareness about our own community service isn't just something that fulfills a requirement or looks good on an application it's something that makes you feel grateful as you witness all it has to offer through events hosted by our own school we see how simple acts of service can range from giving the gift of joy to a child on christmas morning to giving the gift of employment to an adult with autism and so much more service is infinitely diverse and this quality is one of the reasons it's always been such a
055prominent pillar in nhs being a part of this organization we invite you to explore the diversity opportunity and experience the service has to offer we hope to see you participate create and commit to this fundamental value embedded in our organization but most of all we want you to find passion in it we implore you to look beyond simple requirements and to find passion in connecting with the people and community around you and to cherish experiences that you become a part of don't get me wrong not every event is going to be a moment of some fiery passion but sometimes service just isn't like that this is about considering the bigger picture and knowing that even though your work may seem tiny in the face of a huge crisis it's efforts like yours that make a
056huge difference and here at nhs we hope you choose to take part in all service has to offer thank you and next i'd like to introduce mahamsheik who will be talking about our pillar of character thank you sreya good afternoon and congratulations to our newly inducted national honor society members my name is maham shaikh and i serve on the current national honor society executive board today i will be speaking about the character pillar henry david thoreau once said you cannot dream yourself into a character you must hammer and forge yourself one as high school students we are at a ripe age to build our character and embody characteristics that we will uphold for the rest of our lives our character defines how we treat one another and the values we represent quality such as integrity
057respect compassion and optimism can be shown through simple actions such as helping a friend with homework or larger actions such as fundraising and campaigning for a school event stevenson is full of students who embody outstanding character if you look around you'll see students who spend hours running school-wide events and who are always willing to help to reach out and help others throughout our high school journeys there are many obstacles and crossroads that we have to face especially at an amazing school like stevenson however the way you persevere through these hardships allows you to build your character nhs will prepare you for personal development growth and realization being surrounded by the most resilient hard-working individuals you'll ever meet will motivate you to become a better person your character thus far has allowed you to join the
058stevenson nhs chapter and now you will become the role models that younger generations will look up to feel free to take risks and to stand up for what you believe in as this allows for change to be initiated into progress especially through your service activities inspire the kids through homes tutoring to join you on this journey for growth and motivate your fellow peers to participate in events such as just remember that nobody is perfect and how we react to our mistakes is also a representation of our character each and every one of us has unique qualities and is our responsibility as nhs members to go out there and uphold our moral codes with good intentions thank you we will now be introducing our induction video for this year which showcases many of the nhs events
059that we do and upholds all of the four pillars and all the four pillars that we just talked about hello everyone my name is arthur bresnikov and i serve on this year's national honor society executive keyboard so unfortunately that video was cut short due to some technical issues but i want to thank laila kenny and jacenya for helping edit that together i know they spent a lot of time on this and it turned out great and it would not have been possible without them so i want to transition next to our national honor society pledge and i would like to ask all our current inductees to stand up raise their right hand and repeat after me okay i pledge to maintain high scholastic standing to hold as fundamental and worthy and untarnished character to endeavor
060intelligently and courageously to be a leader and to give of myself freely in service to others in doing so i shall prove worthy of a place in the national honor society congratulations inductees you are now officially a part of stevenson's chapter of national honor society next i would like to introduce mr urban one of the nhs sponsors it's inductees this will look great on your college resume it's a milestone that will distinguish you from other people and get you one step closer to that great school where you'll finally be incredibly happy it's a prestigious award recognizing all the great things you've done it's an honor that opens doors for you it means that you're smart accomplished and destined for greatness i see some people smiling so you're getting the joke like no no um none
061of these things really ring true being inducted means that you've been identified as having potential in fact the word induction is defined as bringing about or giving rise to something it's a beginning induction is not a celebration of our shared awesomeness and our golden futures we're here to celebrate the fact that 427 individuals with a variety of interests and skill sets can expand the ability of our organization to help the poor disconnected and disenfranchised we're also celebrating that you get to have a powerful service learning experience through your work in our organization it is our hope that you'll leave nhs transformed with the abilities and passion to affect meaningful change in the world i know some people in the audience are saying yes of course service to others but there also has to be some
062sort of individual benefit well prior to the covet pandemic a consortium of decision makers from over universities including harvard and yale organized a group called making caring common in 2016 they released a report entitled turning the tide inspiring concern for others in the common good through college admissions although selective in their admission standards these universities had come to the realization that they had been admitting the wrong type of student former yale professor and author william darachevitz dubbed these students excellent sheep in his book dara shevitz writes that the system manufactures students who are smart and talented and driven yes but also anxious timid and lost with little intellectual curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose trapped in a bubble of privilege heading neatly in the same direction great at what they're doing but with no
063idea why they're doing it when i first read that i thought wow somebody woke up grumpy this morning um but as a group these universities have decided to re-examine their admissions policies they're currently de-emphasizing act and sat scores in some cases making them optional they're limiting the number of activities that students can list on their apps putting the focus on student reflection and they're encouraging fewer ap courses wow what are they looking for now well it's passion authenticity and kindness yes you heard that correctly these are things that are hard to fake and require a robust sense of self they also require legitimate and challenging experiences working with other human beings so what will your nhs membership card and pin do for you nothing even colleges and universities admit that the designation alone is largely
064meaningless however and this is the big however you can work with us to acquire the skills and mindset to become the type of person that you'd like to see attending harvard yale the university of illinois the college of lake county res even augustana college that's my alma mater you know i had to give it a shout out in nhs you can serve in hundreds of different in hundreds of different ways you can lead amazing events you can do work that is specific to your passions and meaningful to you you can become the type of person you'd like to see doing stem research passing laws in the illinois legislature or growing carrots on an organic farm ultimately the honor and national honor society has nothing to do with awards accolades elite universities prestigious associations or professions
065it's simply about how we carry ourselves and the intentional drive to help others our seniors they graduate soon and they understand the meaning of honor they've left a strong foundation for you to continue to expand the capacity of nhs to serve those in need today we also address another transition i call this the changing of the guard we say goodbye to our current executive board and officially transfer power to the newly elected board and these chairs are 12 extraordinary individuals who have led the stevenson chapter of national honor society through its most challenging year in school history most importantly i want to recognize them for all the things that can't be measured the wonderful memories eighth period zoom meetings filled with energetic idea sharing and silliness the creative reimagining of school events to work in
066virtual and hybrid environments and the simple day-to-day interactions where i was able to watch them grow up eboard i'm proud of your past accomplishments and i'm hopeful that your future paths lead to fulfillment and happiness but i'm most proud of who you are i'm proud of the things that you did with no expectations of receiving anything in return you gave freely in the hopes of bringing about meaningful change in the lives of those who needed it you approach your work with passion purpose and a focus on engaging the community please stand when i call your name and thank you for your service arthur bereznikov caroline mazur soraka david bayer emily kim james kim kenny juan [Applause] [Music] sabrina kosovitsky shreya mamadi and tiffany lee thank you so much for your service and now i'd like
067to introduce the 2021-2022 nhs executive board please stand when i call your name dylan ivanov jaden varghese genevieve joshi jasmine's son jacenia sarathi julia chen manal mohammed who couldn't be with us today olivia defalco [Applause] prachi guyanmo [Applause] richie zechariah also could not be with us today shreya sharma [Applause] and shoham sarkar and now please welcome sabrina [Applause] thank you mr erdmann hi everyone i'm sabrina kozrowiczki and now former member of the national honor society executive board wow that is so crazy to say given that the 12 of us had only met once prior to filming that video that you guys kind of saw today now i don't know if you guys know this but the most important role of a sponsor is to keep our fights from getting too violent of course i'm kidding
068but really this year they were tasked with getting us to speak to each other in the first place we all might say that a real life mute button would be helpful but our board can attest that that is incorrect well i can joke all i want about this year but we really could not have had one of our most successful giveathons created global goals or resale for riverside events for the first time ever without the help from our sponsors the four of them have been there for the 12 of us helping navigate through the crazy year of unknowns i would first like to start off by thanking mrs albert miss hike and miss osec who also could not be here today you guys were always available for whichever day the 13 of us had planned
069during during 8th period you attended each general meeting each semi-last-minute committee meeting and any informational meeting that we hosted for our members we love all the creative and organizational input you are always willing to give us and of course ms albert's jokes that always lighten the mood thank you so much for supporting and always being there for us and lastly on behalf of the rest of our e-board i would like to thank mr erdmann he is a sponsor who is not only there to improve the quality of the service opportunities we present to our membership but to improve the quality of us as people i don't think any of us can deny that we've learned more from mr urban this year than in some of our classes this organization would truly not be the same
070without him there is no one more committed to teaching students that service can be a part of everyday life than mr erdmann thank you so much for guiding us new eboard and in the near future our new inductees a new board although you may not have the opportunity to be with mr erdmann every single day during eighth period next year i'm sure you will still hear enough of his dad jokes and many many important life lessons thank you so much to all of our amazing sponsors and now i present to you the next speech given by caroline mazur soraka thank you sabrina as our induction ceremony comes to a close it is time to celebrate and welcome you to stevenson's national honor society my name is caroline mazer soraka and i'm beyond excited to have
071you join me my peers and our sponsors in taking our four pillars in stride to impact our community though this past year has brought its difficulties you are here today because you have persevered and continued to uphold your scholarship leadership service and character even amongst the most challenging of circumstances your membership in nhs is truly more than recognition over the next one or two years you are given the platform to plan fundraise and help those in your surrounding community who need it most so come to street fest and learn about the charities we're supporting save three lives by donating to our blood drive lead your classrooms to support a family in need as a giveathon leader and promote participation in st baldrick's to your friends and family members and maybe even shave your head if
072you're feeling adventurous rather than simply accruing service hours you have so many outlets to channel your individual interests towards creating your own impact on the community more than anything being a member of national honor society is an opportunity one that can only achieve its highest potential with your effort and dedication pursue the causes that you are passionate about and you will find a community of fellow members who will support and join your initiative our national honor society's success is reliant on shared service advocacy that now as an inducted member you can have a greater part in every student here who has spoken to you was once seated in the audience of an nhs induction ceremony just like you are here today though we were a little more crammed together in the performing arts center while
073there have been numerous adaptations since we were in your position the collective determination of national honor society members to serve the community has stayed the same and continues with you it is your time now to celebrate your induction we see your potential to uphold your scholarship lead among your peers become a service advocate and exemplify strong character thank you for your service and leadership contributions to the world so far and i look forward to the impact you will make for the next few years and beyond congratulations on your membership in nhs [Applause] this officially concludes our induction ceremony so congratulations to everyone and thank you all for attending you all are free to go and if you want to grab some photo ops you can take some pictures here or we also have behind the
074opposing bleachers our four pillars hanging in banners with the view of like from the view of the parking lot so you're free to go thank you so much [Applause] you