FREE ESSAY ON NHS ACCEPTANCE ESSAY

NHS ACCEPTANCE ESSAY

The standards for entrance into the National Honor Society are scholarship, leadership,
character, and service. Through this paper I will strive to prove that I possess all of
these qualities, and moreover, that I am qualified for entrance into an organization as
prestigious as the National Honor Society. Over the past four years as a scholar, I
believe that I have demonstrated all of these characteristics.
That I have the scholarly ability required to be a NHS member is indicated simply by the
fact that I was nominated for entrance into the NHS in the first place, though since I
get the impression that more than this is required, I will point out that I have
consistently made the honor roll every quarter during my years in both High- and
Middle-school. Also, my involvement in the school's "Jets TEAMS" (Test of Engineering
Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science) team during my Junior year functions as an indicator
of my scholarship. Jets TEAMS is an intense, annual competition in which schools send 8
of their strongest students to compete against other schools in a nationwide contest.
During my Junior year I was fortunate enough to be selected as one of the eight students
(only 3 of whom were Juniors) who would go to the competition, and through our team's
efforts, we were able to come in first in the state of Connecticut, earning recognition
not just for ourselves, but for the town of Granby as well. Through my involvement in
Jets TEAMS and my solid academic record, I feel that I have demonstrated the scholarship
required for entrance into the National Honor Society. 
It is difficult to narrow things down to a single situation in which I have demonstrated
leadership qualities to the extent that is required for entrance into the NHS, but for
the purposes of this paper (and the sake of brevity), I will focus on my past involvement
in the "People to People: Student Ambassador Program." People to People is a nationally
recognized organization which sends groups of American students to foreign countries
where they can learn about another culture by experiencing it firsthand. Their itinerary
also stresses the development of leadership skills and the importance of teamwork.
Through my involvement in this program, aside from learning a lot about a foreign culture
(I traveled to Australia for 3 weeks), I also learned a great deal about the
responsibilities and obligations that go along with being a leader. Shortly after the
start of the trip, I was nominated to be one of three "Student Delegation Leaders." As a
delegation leader it was my job to help organize group activities and meetings, as well
as to find and help resolve any conflicts between individual delegation members. Through
my time spent as a delegation leader, I learned a lot about the compromise, fairness, and
responsibility that are required if one is be a "good" leader of others. I often found
myself having to sacrifice my own free time and personal desires for the benefit of the
group. This, I believe, is the most important part of being a leader, the ability to
sacrifice some of the things you want for the overall gain of the people that you are
leading. I have also learned a lot about the role a leader must play in group/team
dynamics through my involvement in the Granby Tennis Team. I won't elaborate on this
point, however, as this paragraph is already becoming monstrous in scope. 
Service is the quality of NHS members which I have the hardest time finding an example
for. I have never been involved in community service in the "traditional" sense. I have,
however, acted as web-master of a fairly popular website of my own creation in the past,
and many parallels can be drawn between this and community service. The website that I
had (during my Junior year) was entitled "Definitive MP3," and it contained general as
well as in depth technical information on Digital Audio (MP3), related software programs
which visitors could download, and a section where people could find technical support
for the software programs. I myself would be online for several hours each day to
personally answer and address specific questions and concerns that my visitors had
regarding Digital Audio, the software programs, or life in general. Maintaining and
operating the website and its HTML code also took a couple hours of my daily time as
well, and all this was done for no compensation whatsoever. I did not profit or benefit
from my website in any way other than the sense of personal satisfaction that I got from
helping others and from their frequent praise of the site. This can be likened to
community service because I gave up a good deal of my time and effort for no reason other
than the benefit and enjoyment of other people. The only real difference that exists is
that rather than benefiting the immediate community of Granby, I benefited a larger (the
site reached close to 30,000 hits over its 9 month life-span), more dispersed community
through the Internet. I think, however, that what is more important than what the actual
community service is, is what the participant takes away from it. From the days, weeks,
and months that I spent maintaining my website and personally helping others, I realized
that I really do enjoy helping other people, as well as giving up a portion of my free
time simply for the benefit of others. I think that this is why service is such an
important part of becoming a NHS member, because without it, one would not know that
there is a reward to be found in selflessly helping others, the reward of personal
satisfaction, of knowing that you did something good for no purpose other than the sake
of doing something good. 
By this point in my paper, I would think that I have already demonstrated that I possess
sufficient character to become a member of the National Honor Society (and I would also
like to thank the reader for having the tenacity to make it this far). My involvement
with People to People has taught me such traits as personal responsibility and integrity,
through Jets TEAMS and my participation on the Granby Tennis Team I have learned about
the importance of teamwork and group dynamics, and by being a web-master for a completely
non-profit website, I have learned how to be self-sacrificing, and about how rewarding
this can be. I would hope that all these instances have already been elaborated upon
completely enough in the previous paragraphs that I do not need to do so again. If this
is not the case then maybe I really do not have what it takes to become a member of the
NHS. 
I believe that by now I have demonstrated that I posses the qualities of scholarship,
leadership, character, and service. I also feel that if I am fortunate enough to earn
inclusion in the NHS, that I would do nothing detract from the prestige and
respectability that is associated with the National Honor Society. But ultimately that is
a choice which is left up to you, the reader. Now that I have had my say, it is time for
you to have yours...
Bibliography
None, though anyone who uses this might want to look out for reference that are too
specific...town names and such.