Lower Moreland High School’s National Honor Society, or NHS, has 131 members: 75 Seniors and 56 Juniors. Despite its large size, the club is run smoothly and efficiently by its advisor Mr. Church. NHS is concerned with much more than academic excellence, as its chapter institutes rules for membership based on students’ outstanding performance in Scholarship, Service, Leadership, and Character. The scholarship aspect of membership requires students to maintain good grades. The service quality requires a student to make voluntary contributions to the local community without compensation. The leadership quality is achieved by promoting and participating in school activities and being resourceful and dependable. Finally, the character quality upholds principles of ethics and morality by requiring students to demonstrate courtesy, and have high standards of honesty and reliability. 

There are many examples of NHS contributions to the Lower Moreland community. Members tutor high school and middle school students needing extra help with their academic work. All tutoring sessions are free of charge and provided in school by NHS students. Additionally, NHS students contribute to the local community by raising money for pediatric cancer through Mini-Thon, the car wash, and cleanup activities (such as the MLK Day cleanup), volunteering for the Back to School Night, participating or cheering for the student-teacher tennis match, running the snack stand, distributing plants and flowers, or helping with homework and tutoring at Pine Road Elementary School. These activities are beneficial and meaningful for our school and community. This year, I participated in the flower distribution, assisted students at Pine Road Elementary with homework, and helped during the student-teacher tennis match. The teacher-student tennis match was entertaining to join in and watch. My tennis match partner, Mr. Preedy, was a solid tennis player!

NHS students have also organized toy drive donations for the Mitzvah Circle Foundation and supervised games for the Food Truck Festival. They have participated in a canned food drive for Philabundance, donated books for the Girl Up book drive, and given away old running shoes to be recycled. 

On April 24th, the members of NHS will run a blood drive at LMHS. Students who are 16 years and over are eligible to participate, but those who are younger than 17 years old are required to provide parental permission slips to participate. If you are eligible, please consider donating, as it will benefit many members of our local community.               

As we all know, balancing extracurricular activities with schoolwork can be challenging. But I found these activities to be rewarding, meaningful, and memorable. Every contribution counts, so if you want to contribute to the local community, please consider joining the LMHS NHS. Letters to all NHS-eligible students are typically sent out in March. Applying students must have a GPA of at least 3.25 and complete an NHS application describing their personal experiences with service, leadership, and character contributions. In addition, applicants must acquire three teacher recommendations to get considered for NHS membership and submit applications to be reviewed by the panel of advisors who recommend the NHS Chapter membership. Join LMHS NHS this year or in upcoming years to make our school a better place for everyone in LM!!