Erie’s National Honor Society (NHS) has big plans for the upcoming 2019-2020 school year. These students not only work hard for their education, but also plan and volunteer at different events throughout the year to help the Erie community.  

National Honor Society is an extracurricular activity that high school students across the United States can take part in when meeting the requirements of 35 hours. This program focuses on four pillars: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Character. Students that take part in NHS uphold these qualities within their everyday life. These students are  academically motivated, volunteer, peer tutor stuff, are involved in school and other activists, play sports 

Claire Watson, a junior at Erie High School, is in her first year of NHS. She demonstrates leadership everyday by stepping up to the plate when there is a job that needs to be done. “I realized NHS gives me the opportunity to help out a lot of people,” commented Watson.  

Erie High School’s NHS committee has planned multiple events to contribute to the Erie community throughout the school year. A few of these events include: Letters to Soldiers, Coins for Cancer, canned food drive, Eerie Erie, help with homeless shelters, and a blood drive. 

Greta vonBernuth and Julie Mitchell are co-sponsors for Erie High School’s NHS.  Mitchell has been apart of the program for the past five years. “The NHS students on their own have created and implemented such amazing ideas, like collecting underwear for the homeless to give back to the communities,” added Mitchell. 

Mitchell continued to explain how Erie’s NHS is very fortunate, saying “There is more to the organization than a resume filler as students truly find passion in what they are doing for others.”

Mitchell’s favorite event is Coins for Cancer because NHS students work hard to collect donations schoolwide. She explains it is a subject that she really connects with. The blood drive is another school wide event. NHS partners up with the Red Cross, and students over 16 years of age are able to donate blood. There are now two drives (in the fall and spring) for students to take part in and donate blood or volunteer at the drive itself. 

Nisha Shrestha is a senior at Erie High School and is in her second year of NHS. She is one of many students who value NHS as something more than a bullet point on a resume. Shrestha states, “I love the opportunities presented, and feeling like I am truly impacting and making a difference within my community.” 

The students of Erie High School have been working hard in their committees, and already taking on the event Letters to Soldiers. There is a lot to come within the next year to help change, build, and grow the Erie and school community this year.