Within all chapters of the National Honor Society, four pillars are recognized to evaluate its members and their actions. These four pillars are Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Character. Scholarship displays one's commitment to learning. Leadership is the disregard of personal interest to instead act to the interest of others. Service is the willingness to work towards a goal without any compensation or recognition. And finally, character is what distinguishes an individual from others. These four pillars were upheld by the Adams Central chapter of NHS in their completion of their fall project.
The fall project of the National Honors Society has become an annual tribute to those battling Breast Cancer. With October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, the Adams Central NHS committee collected donations for the Morrison Cancer Center here in Hastings as a way to connect the school with the greater Hastings community. “Being a part of the National Honor Society really is an honor. It gives everyone a chance to be involved in so many different projects to help do great things within our school and in the community too.”, said Junior, and NHS Treasurer Claire Kiolbasa.
Donations were collected throughout October 12-16, though there were several different ways the National Honors Society marketed their fundraising. Mask Out Cancer t-shirts were available for purchase collecting a total of $741. The main project was a design contest for face-masks. With mask mandates in place in school and now within the community, it only made sense to integrate COVID protection into the project. Also, Mrs. Schuck, sponsor of the Student Council, saw the importance of this project and took it upon herself to aid the National Honors Society. Mrs. Schuck handmade, pink face-masks as pink is the color that represents breast cancer awareness and Adams Central National Honor Society sold them to students for $5 a piece to raise money towards the Morrison Cancer Center Fund that the National Honors Society would donate. We brought in a total of $1211.50 and donated all of it towards the project. Senior and President of NHS, Caitlyn Scott said, “I think that it’s important that we do this project because Cancer puts a lot of stress emotionally, physically, and financially on families. It’s important that they can focus on other things rather than paying for treatments. It’s also really special knowing that the money we raised is going towards people in our own town.”
This project is one of few things NHS completes in a year to provide opportunities for service. Tristan Weston, Senior and Vice President of NHS said, “NHS is unique in the fact that we are always trying to involve our members in the community, even during times like these!”
- This story was written by Claire Anderson (NHS member)