Every year, a select group of students are chosen to be inducted into National Honors Society. These students receive a letter over the summer notifying them they are eligible to apply to be accepted to the prestigious organization.

According to Mr. Richard Peddicord, one of the advisors of North Harford’s chapter of NHS, 118 students received applications. Out of the 118 who received the application approximately 55 will be inducted states Peddicord. North Harford High School will hold an induction ceremony in November to welcome select students into the chapter.

National Honors Society is beneficial to a student’s future and emphasizes a student’s dedication to their school work. “Becoming a member of NHS gives students recognition for their hard work and can help with college acceptance,” according to Peddicord. The National honors society is based off four main pillars. These are scholarship, leadership, service, and character.

Though the organization has been around for a long time, the process for admitting candidates has recently changed. To make selections more objective, the Faculty Committee now looks at the points (23) candidates have earned through course selection,  leadership roles, service and character. The committee also considers the amount of service hours candidates have accumulated. Juniors need 20 hours of service; seniors need 30 hours,” commented Peddicord.

During the induction Kristen Zdon will be the guest speaker at the ceremony to help welcome the the newest additions to North Harford High School’s chapter of the national honors society. Zdon graduated from North Harford in 2014 and is currently a junior at Towson University. She was a member of National Honors Society during her junior and senior year and claims “I truly believe in the four pillars of NHS. It helped me grow as a student leader into college through various organizations. It also helped me be confident in the field I want to pursue in college which is elementary education (I also have a Spanish minor). I wanted to spend a majority of my high school career giving back to the community and NHS helped me develop that passion. I dedicated a lot of my time to service and still continue to do more than ever in college.

Zdon claims that she has chosen to come back to North Harford so she can explain to the inductees the importance of National Honors Society. “I want students to understand that even though you are achieving this prestigious honor, it is important to use that honor to help others and be a voice for others. It is not about the title that you achieve, but it is about the impact and how you made them feel. Students are very powerful and have the power for change. Something that I did not really realize in high school was that my voice matters and my actions matter. If you do not like something, you have the power to enact change.”