Photo by Leslie Fireman
Seniors Andrea Sarmiento, Maritsa Romero and Kathy Martinez sort apples at the Northern Illinois Food Bank in November.
National Honor Society recognizes students with character, leadership
National Honor Society is a leadership/service organization at West Chicago Community High School that aims to create a thriving community of students in four pillars: academics, leadership, character and service. In addition to recognizing students who have a 4.5 GPA or higher, and are involved in numerous activities in and out of high school, the club encourages its members to get involved around the community.
“Our members are each required to volunteer at least 20 hours in the community each year. Some of that, we do together: we just went to the Northern Illinois Food Bank and we packaged apples and sorted through items in the freezer to help people who are in need,” said Leslie Fireman, English teacher and National Honor Society advisor.
Other involvements include providing temporary tattoos, games and candy at both WeGo Spooky and the West Chicago Public Library Trunk or Treat event. Most recently, the chapter entertained over 300 community members at Breakfast with Santa, held on December 10.
“It’s such a great chance for our students to give back to the community and ring in the holidays with an event that really people look forward to each year,” said Fireman of the Breakfast with Santa event.
The chapter hopes in the future to increase the amount of involvement from their new members, and is looking to host a bake sale to fundraise for groups such as Project Linus. They are also preparing for their annual badminton tournament, to be held March 10.
“We try to have a variety of different volunteering opportunities for our members to get involved in and contribute with,” said Ximena Valenciano Serna, National Honor Society Senior Service Officer.
The chapter is also looking to provide more opportunities for its members (all 107 of them) to form connections.
“Overall, we would love to have a big bonding community that students look forward to every first Wednesday of the month and make it more interactive for all,” said Serna.