Congratulations to all high school students who were inducted into the National Honor Society (NHS) on December 14 at Tappan Zee High School! In my opinion, membership in NHS is one of the highest honors that can be earned by a student. Students inducted into NHS have demonstrated that they have positive traits as leaders of character who are willing to serve their communities while maintaining an exemplary academic record. It is the combination of these traits – as categorized by the “Four Pillars” of scholarship, leadership, service, and character – that make the NHS student special. As the superintendent of SOCSD, I am especially proud of the recent NHS inductees (and seniors who received their pins) from Tappan Zee High School who understand that membership in NHS is much more than an entry on a college application. Belonging to NHS is a recognition that each member is greater than the sum of his or her component parts (or related entries on an application for college admission).
Involvement in NHS activities provides encouragement for leadership and community service. While some of our students do not require encouragement to serve the community or assume the mantle of leadership, NHS membership provides an incentive for service-related activities that could be easily “squeezed out” of already busy student schedules. There is “real-world” relevance for being the type of person who can choose the difficult responsibilities of selfless-service and/or being the person who is in a leadership position – all while maintaining good grades, participating in extracurricular activities, and choosing the “harder right over the easier wrong” in general.
Participation in the local chapter of the National Honor Society is truly about each student being able to “connect the dots” between academic pursuits and the larger world around them. The Four Pillars should not be viewed as separate traits but how each contributes in concert with the others. To view the Four Pillars independent of each other is somewhat reminiscent of the parable of the blindfolded men describing an elephant in terms of its component parts. An elephant is not a spear, or a wall, or a tree; as depicted in the cartoon below. An elephant is a mighty and noble force of nature. This is also true for our mighty and noble NHS students: “you are far greater than the sum of your component parts and we are proud of all that you have done…your contributions to the world are limited only by your ability to dream. Dream big and well-done!” For a list of students recognized, see list below*, or click on nhs-ceremony-2016 to see a copy of the program for last Wednesday’s ceremony.
*The Mighty and Noble Forces of Nature (in alphabetical order):
New Inductees: Anna Acosta, Hannah Amaral, Francesca Battelli, Amanda Bermel, Joseph Blanchet, Kaitlyn Borruso, Danielle Calegari, Julia Cantatore, Mira Carumba, Jennifer Caserma, Matthew Chun, Christina Colella, Raymond Constancio, Liana DeLaRosa, Isabella Duarte, Max Fernandez, Cassidy Fleury, Alison Gadd, Riya Gandhi, Ava Genovese, John Gontaryk, Michael Grammatica, Gabriella Greisberg, Leah Guttman, Grant Hanchar, Gary Hu, Mitchell Jacobs, Sage Karzhevsky, Luke Kiely, Madison Kousoulas, Jake Laddis, Jane Lee, Yasmine Lee, Anastasia Leone, Kaylee Liang, Brittany Lucas, Trinity Lundemo, Nicole Malpeli, Alexander Markoe, Thomas McGivney, Joseph McHugh, Sophia McHugh, Kayla McKiernan, Thomas McKiernan, Colin Moriarty, Sandra Olszewski, Sarah Pan, Jane Pritchard, Kirsten Ranieri, Sarah Rivera, Diana Rizzo, Matthew Russell, Brianna Scollan, Jacqueline Sheridan, Ruben Sriskanda, Braeden Stout, Eve Sullivan, Sean Treanor, Emily Trozzo, Nicole Veraja, Jonathan Weissberg
Senior Members Receiving Pins: Andrew Ahn, Kai Canoll, Meghan Castellano, Drew Chang, Jane Choe, Christopher Cicalo, Tara Coyne, Carlee DeFrancesco, Kevin Dennehy, Alexa DeStefano, Brielle Ehmsen, Daniella Fair, Tara Fears, Max Fernandez, Hailie Festa, Rivu Ghosh, Kieran Gibson, Jordan Gidaly, Samantha Glazer, Samuel Gould, Sophia Grande-Campbell, Brendan Hehir, Daniel Henry, Russell Jacobs, Alina Johny, James Kalappura, Gregory Kane, Min Ji Kang, Andrew Kaplan, Giannie Karam, Shannon Kearney, Myriel Kim, Zoe Konstantinidis, Hayley Kousoulas, Yasmine Lee, Jessica Lewis, Daeseob Lim, Brittany Lucas, David Lustig, Jennifer Lynch, Sarah Machlis, Rafael Madera, Alexandra Maloney, Kelsey Marren, Camryn Marucci, Matthew McGivney, Stephen Mitchell, Victoria Mrozinski, Julia Nelson, Megan O’Brien, Laura Olson, Sery Pak, Selena Quintana, Jack Samett, Rebecca Schmidt, Clare Scott, Garrett Shin, Olivia Sullivan, Zoe Telenick, Rose Ulaner, Danielle Virgintino
Special Thanks to Ms. Nicole Farish and Ms. Nicole Lai, NHS Advisors