By Ashley Attanucci
Staff Writer
Video by Matt French and Robert Brancheau
Coppell High School’s National Honor Society admitted 150 new members this year to its Excalibur chapter, including 19 seniors, 12 juniors and 110 sophomores.
The Induction Ceremony, held last night, included the inductees, officers and many proud parents. Principal Brad Hunt opened the ceremony with a warm welcome, followed by the traditional lighting of the candles (a candle for each characteristic of scholarship, character, service and leadership) and an announcement of the candidates led by sponsor Jeb Puryear who handed each candidate a certificate of membership.
Applicants were required to have maintained a grade point average, or GPA, of 4.8 or higher to be considered for admittance and were required to submit a resume, essay and acquire three recommendations.
Puryear and officers spent a week narrowing down applicants and NHS’s traditional “tapping” was observed October 30. As the initial recognition into NHS, tapping consisted of senior and junior officers visiting classroom to “tap” new members and reward them with a congratulatory paper.
“I felt accomplished,” Junior inductee TH Hernandez said. “NHS is a very prestigious society so being tapped into meant a lot. I put great thought and effort into my resume, and being inducted into NHS showed me that my hard work paid off.”
Junior Alex Park had the honor of sharing the induction with his younger sister, sophomore Ashley Park.
“Getting inducted with my sister was great,” Park said. “It’s rare to share an experience like this with a sibling, and my parents were really proud of us both.”
Junior and one-year member Macaully Shumate expressed her excitement about the new generation of members.
“It’s pretty exciting that new people get to join because it’s a good group to be involved with,” Shumate said. “I enjoy being in it because it encourages me to do things for my community and work service hours.”
The ceremony concluded with the Pledge of the Society. A reception followed.
The society was created to recognize scholarship, character, service and leadership with the motto “noblesse oblige,” meaning that along power and prestige comes responsibility. NHS was established in 1921.
