CANTON — Interim Superintendent Derek Folan, Principal Jeff Sperling and National Honor Society (NHS) Adviser Jennifer Sousa are pleased to share that 82 students were inducted into Canton High School’s NHS chapter at a ceremony on Monday, Dec. 13.
At the ceremony, Principal Sperling, Interim Superintendent Folan and School Committee Chair Kristian Merenda spoke and honored the hard work of the newly inducted members. This year’s student inductees also voted the faculty speaker to be math teacher Paul Dybdahl who delivered a funny and lighthearted speech that had students and parents/guardians laughing throughout.
Before the new members were inducted, current NHS officers Pooja Subramanian and Mia Galvin spoke about the four pillars of NHS — character, community service, scholarship and leadership, and what those pillars mean to Canton High School students.
Inductees then received a certificate of membership before participating in a candle-lighting ceremony.
“This is a special event for our students, and we were very excited for this year’s ceremony to be held in person as last year’s ceremony was virtual,” Sousa said. “I’d like to thank all of our guest speakers for joining us in recognizing our students’ achievements. We are looking forward to the year ahead with our newest members.”
Canton High School’s NHS chapter invites junior and senior students with a 3.3 GPA or higher to apply for membership. Junior applicants need a minimum of 50 hours of community service and senior applicants need a minimum of 75 hours of community service. Students in both grade levels also need to have a minimum of two leadership roles in school or community. Students then fill out an application describing these experiences. A panel of five faculty members read through the applications to select student inductees. The panel also looks at the applicant’s character.
NHS students also complete individual community service projects, which they are beginning to plan for now. Some ideas include “Soup for the Super Bowl,” work with Cradles for Crayons, clothing collections, collecting personal hygiene products for the homeless and a hockey clinic to raise money for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. The chapter will also complete a group project in the spring.
“Our NHS members are recognized not only for their academic achievement, but also their leadership skills and dedication to bettering their community,” Principal Sperling said. “These students are wonderful leaders and role models in both our school and our Canton community. We are proud to recognize their hard work and look forward to seeing how they grow as members of our NHS chapter. Congratulations to the newest inductees.”
The 2021 Canton National Honor Society inductees are as follows: Sierra Abbott, Warda Ahmed, Brandon Allen, Ellie Ashcraft, Dylan Baird, Trisha Bhattacharya, Andrew Butler, Corinne Campbell, Julia Capraro, Sophia Carr, Kiara Cerruti, Sabrina Chan, Tiffany Cheung, Rachel Chornovas, Semonti Choudhury, Christiana Christopoulos, Emily Ciampa, Carolyn Clogher, Adam Clyve, Sean Connolly, Isabelle Crawford, Atlas Curran-Barker, William DeLello, Andrew DiBiasio, Olivia Duffy, Ashley Factor, Carlin Fitzgerald, Fay Gallery, Sydney Gallery, Mia Galvin, Rose Giglio, Edwin Gillis, Lauren Hernon, Conor Hunter, Matthew Hylen, Luke Jones, Liya Joseph, Kristina Keefe, Emily Kelley, Tess Khoury, Audrey Koen, Jacob LaBollita, Stella Lempert, Hailey Lennon, Michael Leonetti, Ella Lewis, Allison Long, Sarah Lopez Rodriguez, Emily Lynch, Kelly MacDonald, Olivia Maloney, Abigail Martin, Emma Massih, Allie McCabe, Payton McDonough, Ryan McLean, Alexandra Metsika, Malina Ngan, Raegan Norton, Ginika Onyemelukwe, Tess O’Riordan, Amanda Pagel, Christopher Pho, Avery Piantedosi, Teagan Radovsky, Suraj Ramanathan, Nadira Simon, Marissa Staffiere, Graham Stemm, Pooja Subramanian, Olivia Sullivan, Sean J. Sullivan, Sean P. Sullivan, Erik Valdovinos, Michaela Walsh, Megan Walter, Hannah Wang, Samuel Weaver, Jordan Wolfe, Caroline Wong, Alison Ye, Erin Zack
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