The National Honor Society is the nation's premier organization established to recognize outstanding high school students. More than just an honor roll, NHS serves to honor those students who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Character. These characteristics have been associated with membership in the organization since its beginning in 1921.
Chapter membership not only recognizes students for their accomplishments, but challenges them to develop further through active involvement in school activities and community service. The RLCA chapter requirements for membership in NHS include maintaining a 3.5 grade point average and demonstrating the other requirements of leadership, service and character. RLCA determines eligibility and invites qualified students to join the NHS in their sophomore, junior or senior year.
SCHOLARSHIP
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. ~ 2 Timothy 2:15.
Scholarship denotes a commitment to learning. A student is willing to spend hours in reading and study, knowing the lasting benefits of a cultivated mind. We should continue to learn even when formal education has ended, for human education ends only with the end of life. Knowledge is one great element in life, which leads to the highest success, and it can be acquired in only one way – through diligence and effort. Learning furnishes the lamp by which we read the past, the torch guiding us to understand the present, and the light that illuminates the future. Candidates have the charge to continually expand their world through the opportunities inherent in scholarship. The principle of scholarship is demonstrated in 2 Timothy 2:14-26.
LEADERSHIP
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. ~ 1 Timothy 4:12
Leadership should exert a wholesome influence on the school. In taking initiative in the classroom and in school activities, the real leader strives to train and aid others to reach their common goals of success. The price of leadership is sacrifice – the willingness to yield one’s personal interests for the interests of others. A leader has self-confidence and will go forward when others hesitate. No matter what power and resources may exist in a school, community, or nation, they are ineffectual without the guidance of a wise leader. Leadership is always needed; thus, to lead is a meaningful and substantive charge to each of our members.
SERVICE
Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve... ~Matthew 20:28
Service can be established in the routine of the day’s work where many opportunities arise to help others both at school and in the community. A willingness to work for the benefit of those in need, without monetary compensation or public recognition, is the quality we seek in our membership and promote for the entire student body. We are committed to volunteering our time and talents to the creation of a better tomorrow.
CHARACTER
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. ~ Micah 6:8
Character is the force within the individual that distinguishes each person from others. It creates for each of us our individuality, our goodness. It is that without which no one can respect oneself, nor hope to attain the respect of others. It is this force of Character that guides one through life and, once developed, grows steadily within. Character is achieved and not received. It is the product of constant thought and action, the daily striving to make the right choice. The problem of Character is the problem of self-control. We must be in reality what we wish to appear to others – to be rather than to seem. By demonstrating such qualities as respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and citizenship, we may hope to prove by example that we value Character.