Students inducted into National Junior Honor Society

Students accept the pledge as the newest members of the National Junior Honor Society during an induction ceremony March 11. (Photo by Brian S. Orban)

Honoring traditions of citizenship, leadership, character, service and scholarship, the local chapter of the National Junior Honor welcomed 65 students into the organization during a ceremony last week.

Hundreds of parents packed into the Mountain Home Junior High School gym March 11 to witness the annual event, which added seventh and eighth grade students into the national organization.

Before they accepted their oath into the society, each student had to meet established criteria set by the national organization. In addition to their accomplishments at school and in the local community, the teens were required to maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.75 during the year, said honor society advisor Deb Gorman.

Abinadi Jenks is all smiles as his sister, Kia, attaches the National Junior Honor Society pin to his suit. His sister, an eighth grader at the junior high school, was inducted into the society last May. (Photo by Brian S. Orban)

Terry Ratliff, chief public defender for Elmore County who served as the guest speaker at this year's event, emphasized that school is not all about sports or academics. Exceptional students are defined by a number of qualities readily seen by members of the National Junior Honor Society.

During his presentation, Ratliff described just a handful of exceptional Americans that set standards of excellence. He highlighted the contributions of people like Alexander Hamilton, one of the nation's founding fathers, that exemplified the qualities of citizenship.

While he wasn't an American citizen, Hamilton helped lay a solid foundation on which the nation rests, according to Ratliff, who was inducted in the National Honor Society during his junior year of high school. In addition to serving as a major general in the Continental Army, he went on to creating the U.S. Treasury and served on the committee that drafted the U.S. Constitution.

Citizenship means making positive contributions to society and with that commitment comes responsibility, Ratliff told the newest honor society inductees.

He then emphasized the importance of leadership, which in America comes in many different forms and styles. Holding up a copy of John McCain's book "Why Courage Matters," he highlighted the sacrifices made by members of the U.S. armed forces, who stood in harm's way in the defense of freedom.

It's this type of leadership -- the desire to take charge despite the challenges facing them -- that's readily seen in students inducted in the National Junior Honor Society. It defines teens who take the initiative and demonstrate a willingness to be leaders among their peers.

During the ceremony, officers with the junior honor society chapter for Mountain Home lit candles, each one representing the traits that form the group's foundation -- citizenship, leadership, scholarship, service and character.

"Good character is the most important thing for membership in the National Junior Honor Society," Andrew Stowells said during last week's ceremony. Built on the principles of honesty, loyalty, justice and humility, a person's character within society is equally tempered with humility, she added.

In addition, society members remain good citizens -- an essential factor "in the growth and survival of democracy and freedom," Stowells said. "Good citizens accept the responsibilities, as well as the privileges, of being American citizens," he added. "They work to improve their communities. They obey the law, and they respect the rights of their fellow man."

Besides their role as active citizens in their respective communities, those inducted into the honor society also accept the need of serving others.

"Service to others gives us the highest form of happiness in this world," McKenzie Bryan said. "To aid those in need and to help ease the pain of this world should be a goal for all of us."

Meanwhile, these members serve as positive examples to others, Bryan said. In addition to respecting others, true leaders fulfill their responsibilities and obligations on time while motivating others to accomplish their own tasks, she added.

Contrary to popular belief, true scholars inducted into the junior honor society go beyond earning high marks in their class work, local society representative Haylee Harris emphasized.

"Scholarship is really the development of a desire to be thorough... the creation of love of accuracy," she added. It must not stop when their formal education ends and should continue to grow from every experience they encounter in life.