National Junior Honor Society

[Anonymous]

DD received an application for this from her school. I know about NHS but didn't know about the junior level. Can anyone explain the advantages of applying for this group? Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Our school requires double service work hours. That could be a plus or minus depending on your priorities.

Practice completing an essay application on their own, without parent contributions. Big plus.

Lots of non AAP kids were selected at my kid's middle school. Another big plus.

[Anonymous]

What grade are kids eligible for NJHS?

[Anonymous]

Did not hear a word about this at Langston Hughes. Does it exist there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What grade are kids eligible for NJHS?

At my kids' school the seventh graders get the application and are inducted at the end of the year.

To apply, they needed 3.5 GPA, double service hours, multiple part essay application amd teacher rec. I think everyone who met all the requirements made it in. It appears about 15-20% of the grade was inducted, not a huge surprise as we are in a generally high achieving pyramid.

[Anonymous]

Deal Middle school in DC participates in NJHS. Just had induction ceremony. Kids have to have certain gpa, complete service hours.
My kid enjoyed attending the initial meetings and working toward the requirements.

[Anonymous]

Our middle school has it. I considered it a good way for the kid to practice for future applications and essays, as someone else stated. Got him thinking about how he needs to start looking at school now with plans in mind for the future. Also, it's good for them to do extra service hours. There was actually a lot of overlap in eligible service hours at our school, so he could apply the hours to both requirements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our middle school has it. I considered it a good way for the kid to practice for future applications and essays, as someone else stated. Got him thinking about how he needs to start looking at school now with plans in mind for the future. Also, it's good for them to do extra service hours. There was actually a lot of overlap in eligible service hours at our school, so he could apply the hours to both requirements.

This was also the case in our middle school--students did not have to do "double service hours" at our school as some posted above. I get the impression that what NJHS does and how service is handled varies from school to school and adviser to adviser.

Our NJHS advisers made the service part of the meetings; kids formed small groups, brainstormed service project ideas, and did them both in meeting times at school and on their own time, then reported back to the advisers and other students at the last meetings of the year. Individual kids didn't have to do some heap of additional hours; they got the chance to work in a focused group to meet a goal by a deadline; they got some experience in reporting on their progress and project; and they did some good in the community, too.

That was about all there was to NJHS at our MS and that was just fine. DD enjoyed doing it and the meetings (monthly) were not too much.

[Anonymous]

Can service projects for Girls Scouts count towards NJHS service hours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our middle school has it. I considered it a good way for the kid to practice for future applications and essays, as someone else stated. Got him thinking about how he needs to start looking at school now with plans in mind for the future. Also, it's good for them to do extra service hours. There was actually a lot of overlap in eligible service hours at our school, so he could apply the hours to both requirements.

This was also the case in our middle school--students did not have to do "double service hours" at our school as some posted above. I get the impression that what NJHS does and how service is handled varies from school to school and adviser to adviser.

Our NJHS advisers made the service part of the meetings; kids formed small groups, brainstormed service project ideas, and did them both in meeting times at school and on their own time, then reported back to the advisers and other students at the last meetings of the year. Individual kids didn't have to do some heap of additional hours; they got the chance to work in a focused group to meet a goal by a deadline; they got some experience in reporting on their progress and project; and they did some good in the community, too.

That was about all there was to NJHS at our MS and that was just fine. DD enjoyed doing it and the meetings (monthly) were not too much.

By double service hours I meant double the amount required for the grade. Instead of the five required hours for seventh grade they had to complet ten.

They could record their original five on their application but they had to also do an additional five (might have been more but ten sticks in my mind)

[Anonymous]

Our middle school required a 3.75 GPA and 30 service hours. I had no idea how great the requirements varied from school to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can service projects for Girls Scouts count towards NJHS service hours?

I would think so. The only thing I remember we couldn't count was stuff done by the student for family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can service projects for Girls Scouts count towards NJHS service hours?

Good question but I'd check with the NJHS adviser. Every school is different in how it handles this. At our school, GS service hours absolutely count for the FCPS eighth grade SCHOOL service hours but not for NJHS service hours. For NJHS the service was entirely based on a service project done as an NJHS project (I posted about that above). So check with care to be sure you don't put down hours that might count at another school but not at yours. Do use GS service hours for eighth grade school service, though! GS hours alone more than fulfilled my kid's eighth grade service requirements so they're doubly useful.

[Anonymous]

if your kid does njhs, they do not have to write the essay for nhs addmission in high school. thats the reason my daughter joined in ms. she is now in nhs. lol

[Anonymous]

if your kid does njhs, they do not have to write the essay again for nhs addmission in high school. thats the reason my daughter joined in ms. she is now in nhs. gpa and service hours are the main requirements.