Last Sunday, April 16, the Induction Ceremony for the National Honor Society (NHS) took place. It began the Aquinian Chapter of Cathedral High School NHS. There, juniors were formally welcomed into the NHS and seniors were recognized for their hard work the past year and received an honor cord to represent this high achievement.

The National Honor Society recognizes high schoolers who meet academic standards. Each junior student who is interested in joining the Society has to have at least a 3.6 GPA to be considered. It not only requires a lot of work, dedication, and of course, grades, but also the individual must possess and promote scholarship, service, character, and leadership among their peers and teachers. Integrity, an important core value of CHS, is extremely important when being accepted into this society.

During the ceremony, students were fortunate enough to have Mr. Eugene Murray ‘90 who graduated from Cathedral, to give a short speech about his time as an NHS Cathedral student. He talked about the core values and emphasized integrity as an important value one must possess. Students have to display honesty and their ability to have strong moral principles.

This year 4 seniors were recognized for each one of the pillars of NHS because of their outstanding demonstration of each. John Schneider was selected for Scholarship, Sam Sgroi was selected for Service, John Lefebvre was selected for Character, and Joey Schmidt was selected for Leadership.

After being accepted into NHS students have to recite a pledge to show their commitment into the society. In this pledge, students are formally promising to continue to be model students and to be dedicated in their school activities.“I pledge myself to uphold the high purpose of this Society to which I have been elected, striving in every way by word and deed, to make its ideals the ideals of my school and my life” is a short segment of the National Honor Society Pledge. Mrs. Beth Wissler (Associate Director of Admissions) and Mrs. Lisa Ford (Math Teacher) are the two mainly in charge of selecting the candidates for the National Honor Society.

Mrs. Beth Wissler says, “These students complete an application and include a recommendation. We are looking for students that are not just dedicated to their studies, but to service as well.” Getting accepted into the NHS is difficult, with having to put a lot of work into your studies and to have the grades, but one’s character is more important than anything else when being considered. Other staff members; Mrs. Gretchen Watko, Mrs. Beth Brandes, Mrs. Kristy Busack, Mr. Lee Larkins, Ms. Jenny Myers, and Ms. Kathy Pivonka are part of the selection committee.