NHS Informational Meeting

Wednesday, September 10, 2014Von Steuben MSC

Congratulations!You have been invited to attend this meeting because you have already met these NHS requirements:

SCHOLARSHIP by maintaining a weighted, cumulative G.P.A. of at least 3.5 by June 2014 and

SERVICE commitments have extended beyond those required as part of your course work.

*Please note that these service requirements will be revised in the future to address the new Service Learning Project Component

The National Honor Society

HistoryFounded in 1921, The National Honor

Society is an elite group of students who represent the individual members of a school’s student body who have proven themselves as outstanding models of scholarship, service, leadership and character.

National Honor Society Eligibility Criteria

Candidates are exemplars in each of the four tenants of the organization

•Scholarship•Service•Leadership•Character

SCHOLARSHIPMembers of the National Honor

Society are committed to the pursuit of knowledge.

As life-long learners, they see every experience as one to learn from.

Scholars are perseverant amid challenges and routinely self-advocate to clarify their understanding.

SERVICE NHS members routinely perform voluntary service within the school and community "with a positive, courteous and enthusiastic spirit.”

Members embody a sense of genuine altruism.

LEADERSHIP

Participation in a variety of engaging extracurricular activities in which you have demonstrated your ability to display positive leadership qualities in your school or community activities

• Leadership roles DO NOT have to be formally appointed. Your ability to act as a leader will be evaluated based on the evidence you provide using examples when you have • positively promoted a service learning activity,

campaign, club or organization,• remained focused on finding creative solutions

when challenges arise,• dedicated yourself to seeing your projects

through to completion

CHARACTER

NHS members consistently display good character traits, including, altruism, cooperation, honesty, reliability and courtesy.

NHS Members are model students Any student involved in a Category 5 or 6

violation resulting in 3 or more days of suspension will be immediately dismissed from NHS

Failure to attend two general meetings or service commitments will result in a short probationary period followed by dismissal from NHS

VON STEUBEN STUDENT LEADERS

You’ve worked very hard to get where you are today; you should be proud of your accomplishments!

If selected, National Honor Society students are widely recognized as an elite group of young people due to the rigorous requirements for membership.

Therefore, a contingency of your membership is your voluntary participation in a number of school-related activities which are designed for you to share your “secrets to scholastic success” with our underclassmen and women as well as visitors.

Requirements for membership: will include a regular peer-tutoring commitment, acting as student ambassadors during Von Steuben’s public events, and leading the way in addressing existing gaps in community service learning.

Requirements for MembershipIf invited to join Von Steuben’s chapter of the National Honor Society, these are the membership requirements:

Maintain a 3.5 GPA or higher  for the duration of your membership

Be an excellent school citizen (no involvement in a Category 5 or 6 violation that results in 3 or more days of suspension)

Volunteer at school activities such as Open House, and High School Recruitment Fairs, and the annual LifeSource Blood Drive

Proactively pursue teachers to opportunities to provide peer tutoring here at Von Steuben

Be willing to seek out, organize and lead activities to mutually benefit fellow NHS members as well as the community you’ll serve

2014 NHS Narrative Instructions:The Cover Sheet

Be sure to complete the COVER SHEET and include it as the first page of your narrative. This narrative essay provides the Faculty Council evidence of your qualifications for membership, while completion of the cover page ensures your anonymity during the selection process. ONLY THE COVER PAGE WILL CITE

YOUR NAME. Please include your STUDENT ID # in the upper right corner of EACH page of your narrative.

NHS Candidate Information:

The cover sheet is also used to gather relevant information about you, such as your height and weight for ordering induction ceremony gowns or your lunch period to determine your availability for peer tutoring

Please be sure to complete the student activity schedule to log provide both the faculty advisors (and yourself!) an idea of your availability to commit to additional extracurricular activities and service projects.

Student Activity & Commitment Schedule Sample:

Sample

Student

Schedule

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

6AM-

9AM

Sunday

morning

family

breakfasts

Traveling to

and attending

classes at VS

Traveling

to and

attending

classes at

VS

Traveling to

and attending

classes at VS

Traveling

to and

attending

classes at

VS

Traveling to

and attending

classes at VS

Working part-

time at Starbucks

6A-11A

9AM-

12PM

Attending

religious

services with

my family 9-

11:00AM

Acadec Team

Meeting 12-2P

12PM-

3PM

Homework

Downtime

3PM-

6PM

Family Time Softball

Conditioning

and games

(Spring

2015)

Debate

Team

Practice 3-

5:30PM

Volunteering

afterschool

tutoring

program (3-

4:30PM

Part-time

work at

Starbucks

5-9PM

Volleyball

(Fall 2014)

Conditioning

and games

6-9PM Homework Homework

4-8PM

(estimated)

Homework Homework Homework

Sample

Student

Schedule

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

6AM-

9AM

Sunday

morning

family

breakfasts

Traveling to

and attending

classes at VS

Traveling

to and

attending

classes at

VS

Traveling to

and attending

classes at VS

Traveling

to and

attending

classes at

VS

Traveling to

and attending

classes at VS

Working part-

time at Starbucks

6A-11A

9AM-

12PM

Attending

religious

services with

my family 9-

11:00AM

Acadec Team

Meeting 12-2P

12PM-

3PM

Homework

Downtime

3PM-

6PM

Family Time Softball

Conditioning

and games

(Spring

2015)

Debate

Team

Practice 3-

5:30PM

Volunteering

afterschool

tutoring

program (3-

4:30PM

Part-time

work at

Starbucks

5-9PM

Volleyball

(Fall 2014)

Conditioning

and games

6-9PM Homework Homework

4-8PM

(estimated)

Homework Homework Homework

NHS Narrative Essay Guidelines:

Use Times New Roman, single- spaced, 1 inch margins and no more than two pages to document your experience.

Each category title should be in all CAPS and BOLD.

Include concise, but fully elaborated, evidence articulating how your experience illustrates each category.

It is strongly recommended that completed work should be read by another person and spell checked before submitting. Follow this format for your narrative:

NHS Narrative Considerations:

Refer to relevant and recent experiences both in and out of school to illustrate your claims about the value your scholarship, leadership, service, and character.

While humility is a noble trait, this is a time for an honest and reflective appraisal of your work as a scholar, volunteer and leader

NHS Membership Contract

Active participation in school activities; maintaining fidelity to all your commitments

Provide a minimum of 15 hours of documented peer-tutoring taking place at Von Steuben throughout the school year

In addition to the tutoring, complete a minimum of 20 hours of service learning through NHS approved service projects

Attend all monthly general NHS meetings Be committed to creating and leading a NHS-

sponsored activity▪ Should you miss a meeting due to extenuating

circumstances, it is YOUR responsibility to notify either Ms. Arendt and/or Ms. Kwan of and obtain the information you missed due to your absence

2014 NHS Narrative Scoring Rubric

NHS Candidate Scoring Rubric

2014-2015 Von Steuben MSC

Candidate’s Number ____________________________ Faculty Council Scorer __________________________ Candidate’s Score: ____

Scale Category 0 = Unsatisfactory or No Evidence 1= Basic

2= Emerging 3= Proficient

4 = Distinguished

Scholarship:

Candidate’s Narrative Academic Profile

Candidate addresses academic history in a general way, provides little or no examples to support the candidate’s academic history

Candidate provides a general explanation of his/her enrollment and engagement

in his/her courses which is supported by one or two examples from the candidate’s academic history.

Candidate provides narrative explanation of his/her enrollment and engagement in rigorous courses which is supported by a few examples from the candidate’s scholastic history which are explained, but rely on simple cause-and-effect relationship.

Candidate provides a detailed narrative explanation of his/her successful enrollment and engagement in rigorous courses

which is supported with several clearly elaborated examples from the candidate’s academic history which illustrate his/or her character development.

Candidate provides a richly detailed narrative explanation of his/her successful enrollment and engagement in the most rigorous

courses supported by multiple examples from the candidate’s academic history. Narrative includes descriptions of instances where lessons extended beyond classroom instruction; learning was applied to life-long character development.

Service: School and Community Service

(during high school)

Provides no evidence of involvement in any school and/or community groups

Provides evidence of some involvement in school and community groups. Participation is limited to isolated activities and/or those exclusively required by

a class; explanations are superficial or insincere.

Provides evidence of involvement in several, on-going service commitments. Experiences may be illustrated by plausible evidence supporting service learning; however, a sense of genuine altruism is absent

Provides evidence of active involvement a variety of on-going service projects outside of classroom requirements. Experiences are illustrated with

persuasive narrative descriptions, supporting a mutually beneficial relationship.

Provides evidence of active and on-going involvement in a variety of service projects serving to provide convincing evidence of the candidate’s altruism through rich accompanying narrative descriptions.

Leadership (during high school)

No evidence of active leadership Provides evidence of some form leadership in different scenarios; descriptions presented as an itemized list

of isolated experiences.

Provides evidence of service in a variety of leadership roles; accompanying descriptions provide plausible support.

Provides evidence of active and on-going leadership commitment; narrative descriptions provide persuasive support of a conscientious leader.

Evidence of active, on-going conscientious leadership; narrative descriptions provide convincing evidence of a conscientious and inspiring leader.

Character (during high school)

Narrative description does not provide enough evidence and support to adequately assess the candidate’s character.

Narrative description is thin; explanations are superficial and not fully developed.

Narrative description and explanations provide plausible evidence to support the quality of the candidate’s character.

Narrative description and explanations provide persuasive evidence to support the candidate’s qualities of integrity, altruism, and humility.

Narrative description and explanations provide convincing evidence to support the depth and breadth of the candidate’s qualities of integrity, altruism, and humility.

Writing

Errors in the narrative are frequent; ideas are not developed and few, if any, claims are supported with evidence

Errors in the candidate’s written submission are obvious, critical thinking is evident but not fully developed; claims are supported with some evidence

Narrative follows guidelines and meets general requirements for submission. Candidate’s writing demonstrates critical thinking; most claims are supported with clear evidence

Narrative clearly follows guidelines and demonstrates critical thinking; ideas are sophisticated and appropriate all

claims are supported by clear evidence

Narrative follows guidelines precisely and demonstrates active critical thinking. His/her ideas are sophisticated and his/her writing nearly flawless; all claims supported by clear and fully elaborated evidence

Character Recommendations

Less than four recommendations; some inconsistencies in recommendation of character of candidate

Recommendations accompany submission, but provide little additional insight to support the candidate’s character.

Recommendations from faculty and extra-curricular sponsors provide limited evidence supportive candidate’s narrative

claims

Recommendations from faculty and extra-curricular sponsors corroborates with the quality of personal character described in the candidate’s narrative

Recommendations from faculty and extra-curricular sponsors demonstrate richly developed

relationships illustrating the quality of character described in the candidate’s narrative

NHS Candidate Scoring Rubric

2014-2015 Von Steuben MSC

Candidate’s Number ____________________________ Faculty Council Scorer __________________________ Candidate’s Score: ____

Scale Category 0 = Unsatisfactory or No Evidence 1= Basic

2= Emerging 3= Proficient

4 = Distinguished

Scholarship:

Candidate’s Narrative Academic Profile

Candidate addresses academic history in a general way, provides little or no examples to support the candidate’s academic history

Candidate provides a general explanation of his/her enrollment and engagement

in his/her courses which is supported by one or two examples from the candidate’s academic history.

Candidate provides narrative explanation of his/her enrollment and engagement in rigorous courses which is supported by a few examples from the candidate’s scholastic history which are explained, but rely on simple cause-and-effect relationship.

Candidate provides a detailed narrative explanation of his/her successful enrollment and engagement in rigorous courses

which is supported with several clearly elaborated examples from the candidate’s academic history which illustrate his/or her character development.

Candidate provides a richly detailed narrative explanation of his/her successful enrollment and engagement in the most rigorous

courses supported by multiple examples from the candidate’s academic history. Narrative includes descriptions of instances where lessons extended beyond classroom instruction; learning was applied to life-long character development.

Service: School and Community Service

(during high school)

Provides no evidence of involvement in any school and/or community groups

Provides evidence of some involvement in school and community groups. Participation is limited to isolated activities and/or those exclusively required by

a class; explanations are superficial or insincere.

Provides evidence of involvement in several, on-going service commitments. Experiences may be illustrated by plausible evidence supporting service learning; however, a sense of genuine altruism is absent

Provides evidence of active involvement a variety of on-going service projects outside of classroom requirements. Experiences are illustrated with

persuasive narrative descriptions, supporting a mutually beneficial relationship.

Provides evidence of active and on-going involvement in a variety of service projects serving to provide convincing evidence of the candidate’s altruism through rich accompanying narrative descriptions.

Leadership (during high school)

No evidence of active leadership Provides evidence of some form leadership in different scenarios; descriptions presented as an itemized list

of isolated experiences.

Provides evidence of service in a variety of leadership roles; accompanying descriptions provide plausible support.

Provides evidence of active and on-going leadership commitment; narrative descriptions provide persuasive support of a conscientious leader.

Evidence of active, on-going conscientious leadership; narrative descriptions provide convincing evidence of a conscientious and inspiring leader.

Character (during high school)

Narrative description does not provide enough evidence and support to adequately assess the candidate’s character.

Narrative description is thin; explanations are superficial and not fully developed.

Narrative description and explanations provide plausible evidence to support the quality of the candidate’s character.

Narrative description and explanations provide persuasive evidence to support the candidate’s qualities of integrity, altruism, and humility.

Narrative description and explanations provide convincing evidence to support the depth and breadth of the candidate’s qualities of integrity, altruism, and humility.

Writing

Errors in the narrative are frequent; ideas are not developed and few, if any, claims are supported with evidence

Errors in the candidate’s written submission are obvious, critical thinking is evident but not fully developed; claims are supported with some evidence

Narrative follows guidelines and meets general requirements for submission. Candidate’s writing demonstrates critical thinking; most claims are supported with clear evidence

Narrative clearly follows guidelines and demonstrates critical thinking; ideas are sophisticated and appropriate all

claims are supported by clear evidence

Narrative follows guidelines precisely and demonstrates active critical thinking. His/her ideas are sophisticated and his/her writing nearly flawless; all claims supported by clear and fully elaborated evidence

Character Recommendations

Less than four recommendations; some inconsistencies in recommendation of character of candidate

Recommendations accompany submission, but provide little additional insight to support the candidate’s character.

Recommendations from faculty and extra-curricular sponsors provide limited evidence supportive candidate’s narrative

claims

Recommendations from faculty and extra-curricular sponsors corroborates with the quality of personal character described in the candidate’s narrative

Recommendations from faculty and extra-curricular sponsors demonstrate richly developed

relationships illustrating the quality of character described in the candidate’s narrative

RECOMMENDATIONS

FOUR (4) recommendations are required to support your narrative TWO (2) Von Steuben Faculty Recommenders TWO (2) Extra-Curricular Recommenders▪ These are non-familial individuals who can vouch for your

participation and character in a variety of extra-curricular activities such as coaches, supplemental instructors, tutors, religious leaders, employment supervisors, etc.

These must be returned in a sealed envelope with the recommender’s signature across the flap bearing the recommender’s signature to Ms. Kwan’s office (room 109) no later than Wednesday, September 17, 2014 by 4:30PM

To print your own copies of the recommendation form to distribute to your recommenders, please visit the NHS tab on vonsteuben.org and look under “Selection Materials.”

Candidate Name: ____________________________________________________ Div: ______________

National Honor Society

Character Recommendation

Teachers: Thank you for filling out this evaluation. The purpose of this evaluation is to determine the manner in which

the following elements of character define the student. Please complete this survey for the named student only if

he/she is a student you have taught in class, coached, or advised in an activity. Please give a number score that you feel

best represents the character of the student you are evaluating. This number should be the average of the five scores.

Please check one number for each category. You may give decimal points for each category if you wish.

0 = Unsatisfactory or No Evidence 1 = Basic

2 = Emerging 3 = Proficient 4 = Distinguished

Integrity

Initiative

Sense of Commitment

Work Ethic

Appropriate Behavior

Student’s Total SCORE: __________

What comes to mind when you think of this student? ______________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Is there anything else you would like us to know about this student? If you marked “poor” in the chart above, please

explain. ___________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

In what capacity are you recommending the student? (Are you primarily his/her teacher or a coach/club sponsor?)

__________________________________________ _____ Candidate’s Teacher (past or present)_____ Club Sponsor

Recommender Name

_____ Coach

_____ Other (Specify)

__________________

Thank you for your time.

Please return to student in a sealed & signed envelope or your teacher can drop this confidential form off in Ms. Kwan’s

office in room 109 by Wednesday, September 17, 2014 by 4:30pm.

The 2014 NHS Selection Process NHS candidate forms must be uploaded

on the Google Drive and shared with BOTH Ms. Arendt AND Ms. Kwan (amarendt@cps.edu and

skwan@cps.edu) Subject : “NHS Candidate: Your First &

Last Names, Student ID # and your Division #”

Submission Deadline for all Materials is Wednesday, September 17, 2014, 11:59pm

2014 NHS SELECTION

Completed applications will be reviewed by the Faculty Council (the principal-appointed teacher NHS selection committee)

You will notification in writing of your status* by October 01, 2014

*Please note that Principal Lemone reserves the right of final approval on all candidates and decisions of the Von Steuben Chapter of the National Honor Society

QUESTIONS or CONCERNS?Please direct any questions you have

to either of the faculty moderators or any of the

2014-2015 NHS Officers: Ivelis Colon, President Sandra Mucino , Vice President Sylvia Frank, Activities Coordinator Beatriz Jimenez, Secretary

Thank you and good luck! (Don’t forget to proof-read your narrative )