The National Honors Society (NHS) held its yearly induction ceremony for all new members joining the organization on Wednesday, Oct. 29. The ceremony took place in the media center starting at 3 p.m. with students seated in the back of the space to hear speeches from NHS leadership and watch a presentation.

The ceremony started with a short welcome message from NHS co-sponsor Jennifer Bauer, who briefly introduced the background and goals of the organization. Bauer then discussed the Four Pillars of NHS, which are the core values that the incoming inductees need to know. These values are scholarship, service, leadership and character.

To learn more about the Four Pillars of NHS, the four NHS officers gave brief speeches describing each value more in-depth while they lit a candle to represent each of the four pillars. “I think it was really helpful that we were able to learn about the pillars during the induction ceremony because it helped me really understand what NHS is about and what they do,” junior Diane Liu said.

After the inductees were able to learn about the Four Pillars from the NHS officers, they were officially inducted into the organization as they stood from their seats and recited a pledge led by NHS co-sponsor Anne-Marie Steppling. The pledge included students stating that they will uphold the aforementioned values of NHS and serve their community. “The pledge part of the induction ceremony really made the whole thing feel much more official, and I think saying my commitment out loud made me more excited to be a part of the honors society,” junior Mira Wang said.

With all of the students officially inducted into NHS, the induction ceremony concluded with each new inductee receiving a certificate from NHS, as well as free car magnets and snacks. The new inductees were able to socialize with other students and celebrate their induction into NHS.

In addition to the new inductees that participated in the induction ceremony, non-inductees were also present at the ceremony as well, including parents and friends. “I have a good amount of friends who are juniors and sophomores who got inducted, so even though I wasn’t getting inducted myself, I wanted to be there to support them, see them get inducted and hang out with them after,” senior Summer Yao said.

Now that they are officially a part of NHS, the new members are looking forward to what future plans the organization has for them and their community. “I’ve heard a lot about the different food and clothing drives that NHS does throughout the year, as well as all of their volunteer opportunities to help people in my local community. I’m excited about being able to take advantage of these events and experience them for myself, since I’ve only heard about them through my older friends who have been in NHS before. I also think that it’s a really great organization to be a part of for potential leadership opportunities so that I can help others provide even more help to those around me,” junior Mira Wang said.