What Does It Means To Be An Honors Student

The National Honors Society boasts of members with significant academic accomplishments, selfless hours of community service, and strong leadership capabilities as a representative of the school’s excellence. Becoming a member of the National Honors Society is a prestigious honor. As a student, I strive for excellence in my academics and have made the honor roll every quarter, showing my aim and dedication to reaching my highest potential. I try not to compete with other students, but with myself. My academics are the result of my hard work, and my dedication towards grades correlates to the dedication I have towards becoming a leader and a role model for the community.

The Honors Program student embodies the virtues of independence, academic talent, intellectual curiosity, and persistence. In a brief essay, of approximately 500 words, please tell us how your reasons for admission to the Honors Program as well as your long and short terms academic goals speak to these four virtues. In doing so, you might consider the following questions:

“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” When Jesse Owens said this, he probably was thinking about success in sports, but this quote can be taken in so many more ways. I view it in the way where it inspires others to have the willpower to achieve life's’ goals. To have full devotion to the task at hand is a major quality of an honors student. I have reached the point in my life where I am able to dedicate my time to something as important as National Honors Society. The honor of being considered for NHS is not something I should take so lightly. There are still the four aspects of being a member that the honors society values deeply; leadership, service, character, and citizenship.

Before I joined the National Honor Society (NHS), my ideal characteristics for a successful student included earning straight A’s every semester, taking challenging courses, and, ultimately, ranking myself among the top students of my class. I was trapped in my own model student, exhausting myself with grades and incessant school work. It was an endless cycle. However, when I became a member of NHS, I was reborn. The Society’s four pillars—Scholarship, Service, Leadership, and Character—have gradually reshaped my definition of a successful student.

To be an honors student it means you are responsible and respectful. A honors student should be ready to take a task and fulfil it to the best of their ability. It means they are ready to challenge yourself with complex tasks and complete them responsibly while going above and beyond.

National Junior Honor Society is an extraordinary achievement and honor, but many responsibilities come with it. Therefore the five most important qualities necessary for a member of National Junior Honor Society are leadership, service, citizenship, scholarship, and character. These five qualities are very important because they shape who we are. Without qualities we wouldn’t have a personality and personality makes up who a person is and/or who they want to be. Leadership is a major part of National Junior Honor Society because it shows if we can speak up and be our own person, opposed to sitting down and waiting to follow what other people are doing.

As apart of the leadership team, I work with everyone to service our school by doing everything from putting on fundraisers to working towards the improvement of the school. We, as a team, also service the Fredericksburg community by volunteering for services like providing dinner for the homeless and roadside cleanings. I also took up the position of leadership when I was named team captain of my high school’s varsity field hockey team my senior year. I had the opportunity, then, to lead my peers into games with a mind of encouragement, and lead the team through the best year of performance since the team was first formed. A good work ethic is another important quality for a student in the program as it shows a willingness to work hard and well on everything the student does.

The honor society awards students who show the qualities scholarship, leadership, and character and offer their service to the community. From this opportunity, I learned that grades are not the only thing that make a person, it is how a person presents himself or herself as a member of the community and what they do in their community. I have also learned that little deeds go a long way. Giving

Members of the National Honors society gracefully and diligently display four important characteristics during and after their induction. These individuals set examples to others through these important traits: scholarship, leadership, character, and service. All of these characteristics are very important and unable to be fully mastered without the other. But with everything, there is always a core or a center. This core of the traits is leadership. Leadership is unattainable without respect, charisma, compassion, and intelligence. A trait taught through the previous characteristics. But leadership is the base of it all, allowing an individual to put together amazing events and providing an opportunity to others through their actions. A

To live a fulfilling and successful life, I feel that one must possess certain qualities or attributes. I believe one should work diligently at all they do, make efforts to lead those in the community, give back to the community, and possess a set of morals by which to live. I believe that the four qualities which are required for admission into the National honors Society embody this. By having scholarly attributes, being a leader to peers and colleagues, serving the community and acting with good character, one can achieve success. Therefore, scholarship, leadership, service, and character are all extremely important to me personally; as a students and as a member of the community.

For the past two years, I have been working diligently through the International Baccalaureate program despite the many doubts that have crossed my mind because I always enjoy the challenge. The Honors College has many more promising challenges for me to conquer, such as: having success in honors classes taught by notable professors, taking the chance of studying abroad, and earning valuable internship positions. Through these generous and outstanding opportunities, the Honors College challenges students to go beyond what would be expected at any

Joining the Honors College will develop my authenticity, not in the sense that I will be a more honest person, but rather, that I will know more about myself and have better reasoning behind my beliefs. The challenging course load that Honors Students face requires a deeper level of reflection. Students must not only know the material, but have a solid foundation behind it. This forces students to question their worldly views, resulting in a reformed person both socially and academically. Striving for a deeper understanding requires my views to constantly evolve.

I believe involvement in and out of school is crucial, and that a strong student must have leadership, perseverance, and focus. First, an important quality to have is to be a leader. Ever since I was younger, leadership has been an important part of my life. From sixth through eighth grade I was team captain of my volleyball teams and lacrosse team, and I won the coaches award all three years for showing responsibility and leadership. Once I got to high school, leadership continued throughout my teams.

Renowned UCLA coach, John Wooden, paraphrased a quote from Benjamin Franklin when he said “You can't have confidence unless you are prepared. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail” (Relations 2010). If one were to survey every student in Honors, each student would likely have a different interpretation of what makes them or anyone a scholar. Similar to a fingerprint or retina, every scholar is unique and possesses their own individual characteristics that make them a scholar. While it is true most scholars are unique, many scholars exhibit similar and seemingly essential characteristics.

The National Honors Society has four necessary qualities, that if done correctly are the pillars of success. Scholastic accomplishments shows how involved in learning a person is. Those that are more involved often have more accomplishments. Everyone has strengths in their personality. Those strengths makes a person unique and helps them become a contributing never of society. National Honors Society is a group of community leaders that bring out the best of others in their community. Helping others is an important aspect because in order to be a good leader, it is necessary to help others. I believe I am an exceptional candidate for membership due to my academic accomplishments from childhood to modernity, my personality that includes empathy, creativity, and belief nothing is impossible; my leadership skills shown through directing, and helping the community through reaching out to the next generations.