National Honor Society opens membership to rising juniors

NHS faculty counsel voted this year to invite Sophomores to apply and be inducted to the National Honor Society.

While NHS inductees at Housatonic were historically limited to juniors, this change is something that’s already common across the country.

The decision came after a unanimous vote by the faculty counsel of the National Honor Society. This is a group of five teachers who are voting members.

Then the decision was handed off to senior student members of the NHS chapter for approval. The decision was posed as a yes or no question on the ballot when students voted for officers in the fall. A majority of seniors voted in favor of allowing sophomores to join the club, so this year’s chosen sophomores will be inducted in June 2026.

“Some people might be upset because it has been Juniors for so long, so they might not think that the Sophomores should be able to join, but it is a good opportunity for everyone so there is honestly no harm in it,” NHS member and HVRHS senior Maddy Johnson said.

Although this is new for HVRHS, faculty advisor Peter Vermilyea said that’s not the case nationwide. “That’s pretty typical across the country for students to be inducted as Sophomores,” Vermilyea said. “So, I was inducted as a Sophomore to the National Honor Society, and my two sons were inducted as Sophomores.”

This would create a bigger NHS group which will allow a bigger pool for different volunteering, leadership and service opportunities. “Our members are pulled in so many directions, they are class officers, they are captains of sports teams, they have lots of different responsibilities,” Vermilyea said. Having a bigger group will ease the burden for after school volunteer opportunities, like graduation, parent night, service projects.

“The thing that really excites me about this is the problems that we have now in the National Honor Society is that there is no continuity of membership,” Vermilyea said. “So, when our current seniors were inducted on June 4 last year, we left school eight days later, and we came in completely cold next year. Nobody knows what’s expected of them, nobody has had the opportunity to gain any leadership opportunity to become officers.”

“I’m not sure that there is a downside, I never see a downside in recognizing worthy students,” Vermilyea said. The only possible challenge that he acknowledged is that it may be more difficult for them to qualify. Being younger, sophomores have less time than juniors to cultivate leadership experience and community service.

NHS member Hannah Johnson explained her perspective. “It will be good to expand our program but will make the ceremony longer and make it a less special achievement at HVRHS,” Johnson said.