With the final stretch of the school year and finals season looming on the horizon, some of us may have already forgotten about the hysteria that consumed the junior class just a few weeks ago. National Honor Society distributed applications to eligible candidates and students scrambled for volunteer hours and signatures to beef up their resumes. Now, the time has come for students to discover whether or not they made the cut. Letters of either acceptance or rejection were distributed on April 2nd, and it sparks the question: what exactly does NHS represent and is it really all it’s built up to be?

National Honor Society is a student organization that places emphasis on scholarship, leadership, character, and service. The organization was actually founded in Pittsburgh, so it is a long-standing tradition among schools in this area. At North Allegheny, to apply for NHS membership, juniors must have a weighted GPA of 3.95 or higher, unlike many other schools where are 3.0 is required to apply. Then, applications are considered based on service hours, extracurriculars, leadership positions, work experience, awards, a recommendation letter, and a personal essay.

One would think that such a rigorous application process would mean that only a select few students would be inducted into the organization. However, at NA, the senior class has a couple hundred members in National Honor Society. And just yesterday, as the junior class received their letters, it seemed to me as though almost everyone I had spoken to made it into NHS. Did anyone who had the grades and a remotely well filled out application get a big green checkmark?

If hundreds of students applied and almost that same number were accepted, it either means that everyone at NASH has a highly impressive resume of leadership roles and hundreds of service hours or that the organization, at least at North Allegheny, puts far less of an emphasis upon the leadership, service, and character pillars. This enables people who might not exemplify three out of the four values and are just strong students academically — not that there’s anything wrong with that, but should they be a full-standing member of an organization that they don’t even fit the requirements for?

Additionally, if this many juniors are set to join NHS in a few weeks, you can guarantee that everyone is joining for different reasons. Along the same line of thinking, it is likely that some, probably even many, join National Honor Society not with the intentions of acting with high levels of respect and honor at every moment, but as a way to impress colleges in the near future. “Look, I’m a part of this prestigious club that centers around morality” is something everyone knows universities around the country want to hear.

But the fact that so many join with only those intentions somewhat demoralizes the whole purpose of the organization to begin with.

Don’t get me wrong, National Honor Society is an amazing organization that focuses on very important qualities for success in our future; I myself applied for NHS membership. It is, in the long run, also far more selective than I’ve painted it to be — a 3.95 is still a really high minimum GPA. And for those who join with the pure intent of being a role model and serving the world around them, it truly is a vehicle for showcasing their character.

But at the end of the day, we can’t ignore the fact that a large portion of its members likely fly under the radar and take advantage of the easy acceptance to make themselves look like better people — something that doesn’t display scholarship, service, leadership, and, most concerning of all, of all character in the slightest.