An honor society is an organization that recognizes the high academic achievement of a student within a particular subject or interest. This school has honor societies in a wide range of subjects including math, science, English, music and world languages, in addition to the National Honor Society.

Honor societies present a unique opportunity to learn more about different subjects and the communities that represent them, preparing students for the future. Senior Dena Shao reflects on her experiences as an officer in English, Chinese, Math and Science honor societies. “I learned about Wootton’s Pulp Literary Magazine through [English Honor Society]. These opportunities encouraged me to further explore the field of English, which contributed to my decision to major in it,” Shao said.

Honor societies usually require members to earn a set number of volunteer hours, which are most often obtained by tutoring other students. These hour requirements range from four hours for the Math Honor Society, to 10 hours for the English Honor Society, to 24 hours for the Spanish Honor Society. “It’s important to fit tutoring during advisory/lunch/after school into your schedule. While this can get overwhelming, it is also a great way to learn responsibility,” Shao said.

When joining an honor society, one also has to make a financial commitment. From membership fees, to participating in fundraisers for volunteer hours, the more honor societies one is in, the more it tends to cost. “Fundraisers are a necessary way for honor societies to make money, which is eventually funneled back to members through graduation cords, parties, fees, etc,” Shao said.

Students find that National Honor Society standard hours are particularly focused on donating money or food or participating in fundraisers. “It’s not actually helping people or actually spending an hour of your time to help people. It’s just like buying stuff, which makes it feel more tailored to rich people who want to say that they did 15 hours every year without actually having to do 15 hours of work,” junior Neil Kotval said.

National Honor Society requires five community hours, which encourages volunteering and involvement in school events such as courtyard clean-ups. “Community hours generally are a more accurate reflection of the amount of dedication you have to help other people and the amount of time you spend on your honor society. You are actually doing something like volunteering,” Kotval said.

Students often join honor societies as a way to strengthen their college applications and increase their chances of getting accepted into top universities. “I decided to apply for [honor societies] mostly because they’d be good for college apps. I think that’s most people’s main reasoning for joining honor societies,” Kotval said.

Underclassmen are also under the impression that joining honor societies when they are older will help them when applying to college. “I plan to apply for honor societies at the end of my sophomore year since I’ve heard that they look good on college apps,” freshman Ashu Khetan said.

However, this is not truly the case according to Shao, who will be attending Dartmouth after graduating. “I believe that being a member of an honor society does not play a large role in college admissions. Having a leadership position in an honor society is a step up, but it ultimately depends on the lessons you get out of the experience,” Shao said.

Ultimately, while simply joining an honor society may not help college admissions, it encourages community service and teaches essential skills such as hard work and organization. “[Honor societies] are a fantastic way to grow as a person through tutoring and other forms of volunteering,” Shao said.