National Honor Society (NHS)

Beaumont High School National Honor Society

What is NHS?  

What Is the National Honor Society (NHS)?
Founded in 1921 and supported by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), the NHS is a prestigious organization honoring high school students for excellence in Scholarship, Service, Leadership, and Character.

The Four Pillars Explained:

• Scholarship: A lifelong pursuit of learning and using one’s knowledge for good.
  
  
• Service: Volunteering and helping others in meaningful ways.
  
  
• Leadership: Leading through responsibility and initiative—not just titles.
  
  
• Character: Upholding honesty, respect, responsibility, and integrity.
  
  

Life as an NHS Member:
Induction into NHS is a faculty-selected honor. Members attend meetings, engage in service, access leadership training, and often qualify for exclusive scholarships totaling around $2 million annually. The experience also enhances college applications by demonstrating a holistic commitment to growth and community.

Who is Eligible for NHS: 

To be eligible for candidacy, students must be in 11th or 12th grade and have a 3.7 GPA or higher. Students who meet this criteria will be emailed by the NHS advisor and made aware of their eligibility with an invitation to complete a candidate form. Students will then fill out the candidate form to give examples of their accomplishments in the remaining areas of Leadership, Service, Character, and Citizenship.  Therefore, just because a student qualifies based on their cumulative GPA (scholarship), they will not automatically be chosen to be inducted into the NHS.

Who Chooses Inductees to NHS?

After students fill out the candidate form, and teachers have had the opportunity to rate students they know in the areas of the four pillars, all of their qualifications will be reviewed by our Faculty Council.  The Faculty Council is an anonymous group of faculty members who make final decisions about who will be invited for induction into the NJHS.  The Faculty Council also serves as the group that determines if a student should be dismissed because of a failure to meet expectations in one of the five areas of Scholarship, Service, Leadership, Citizenship or Character. The NHS advisor does not have a vote on the Faculty Council and will not be making any decisions regarding acceptance, rejection or dismissal.

What does an exemplary NHS candidate look like?

Scholarship: Students who have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.7 (on a 4.0 scale), as established by the local school's Faculty Council, meet the scholarship portion of the requirements for membership. These students are then eligible for consideration based on service, leadership, character, and citizenship.

Service: This quality is defined through the voluntary contributions made by a student to the school or community, done without compensation and with a positive, courteous, and enthusiastic spirit.

Leadership: Student leaders are those who are resourceful, good problem solvers, promoters of school activities, idea contributors, dependable, and persons who exemplify positive attitudes about life. Leadership experiences can be drawn from school or community activities while working with or for others.

Character: The student of good character upholds principles of morality and ethics, is cooperative, demonstrates high standards of honesty and reliability, shows courtesy, concern, respect for others, and generally maintains a good and clean lifestyle.

Citizenship: Be a student who is thoughtful, courteous, and respectful in and out of the class

If you’re a 9th or 10th grader, what can you do to become a better candidate for NHS in 11th or 12th grade?

One of the best things you can do is have really strong grades.  Also, becoming involved in school clubs and activities, following all school rules, and being a great role model for other students will give you strong teacher recommendations.  In addition, outside of school, you can begin to track community service hours (work in which you don't receive any kind of pay or grade)  to strengthen your candidate form. Only community service performed during your high school years counts. Any community service done on an individual basis counts as well as service performed through clubs, church, scouts, and civic organizations should be reflected on the form. Religious teaching or proselytizing does not count for community service, but work done through the religious organization, such as feeding the homeless, etc, does count. 

Juniors who apply for consideration, but are not selected, are encouraged to further strengthen their areas of leadership and service and to reapply the following year as long as the minimum GPA of 3.7 is still met.