harbinger SHAWNEE MISSION EAST
Habitat for Humanity •
ISSUE 11, FEB. 23, 2004
town • Children’s TLC
•
What’s Inside
• •
Barbeque reviews Spring sports preview 2004 Oscars
Uni-
YMCA Stars • Knit Knots • Lancer Maestros • Restart • Oak Ridge Stables • AIDS Awareness • Storyteller Project • Franklin Center • Tennis Project • Pets ‘n’ Parties • Kaleidoscope •
Honk and Holler • Village
Every year, students rush to do community service for National Honor Society.
a great DISSERVICE? But does doing the hours
this way do everyone
Ross Boomer
Food Pantry • S.A.V.E. Home • Children’s Clothing Drive • Girl Scouts • can drive • Ambassadors • tutoring • Basketball Project • Harvesters • Cancer Awareness • Union Station •
S
tacks of blue National Honor Society service papers with scribbles and squiggles of black and blue ink compete for space with All Quiet on the Western Front on English teacher Kelly Fast’s desk. Some forms have the community service dates going back to June. Many, though, show the service dates from the past few months. This recent cram in service due to an NHS requirement has increased participation in some service projects. It has also raised student concern for whether the hours are worthwhile. As the days drew near to a Feb. 13 deadline, Mr. Fast, an NHS co-sponsor, was seeing a dramatic increase in the “service surveys” that juniors signed and turned in for the requirement. Students eligible for the honor society have been aware of the program’s
requirements since October. “Only in the past week have I gotten these papers when these kids have had them for [four] months,” Fast said.To be a member of NHS, a student must have at least a 3.6 GPA exhibit leadership, demonstrate the “Six Pillars of Character” and document 20 hours of community service. The hope of the service requirement, according to Fast, is for some kids to take the experience and continue it in the future. “[However], of the 100 to 150 students who are in NHS, I would say only 10 to 20 actually do [service] outside,” Fast said. As a member of NHS, students are required to do at least 10 hours of community service the following year for a specific project. In the fall, many members became active in Tennis Project, a service prject that teaches inner-city children tennis. After 10 hours were completed, though, many of the students stopped participating.
Ronald “The kids [were] disappointed,” senior Carrie Yeast, a co-chair of the project, said. “They bonded with volunteers who don’t have a real love for the project.” As the deadline for juniors approached, a similar trend in community service participation emerged. Junior Stephanie Altoro is a SHARE chairperson for a volunteer group at Union Station. After winter break, she saw a jump in the amount of people participating because of NHS. “I used to be the one asking people to do my project.” Altoro said. “Now they come begging me.”
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McDonald House • salvation army • Eagle Scout • Adopt-a-Pet • blood drive • SADD • VOLUNTEER HOURS