As students clad in black and white filed into North Penn’s auditorium accompanied by classical piano and the applause of their parents and friends, the illustrious evening of the National Honor Society Induction Ceremony commenced on a distinguished note. 97 new members were inducted into the prestigious organization on the evening of October 21^st, bringing the club’s total membership to over 200. The night was considered a resounding success among all those who attended, which included everyone from family to friends to fellow NHS members.

“I think it went really well,” said club adviser Mrs. Michelle Machado. “The kids were really happy, the parents were ecstatic, and watching everybody’s smiles and the big picture of everybody up on stage is just wonderful.”

The ceremony began with a rendition of the National Anthem and the North Penn Alma Mater by a group of chorus members, followed by a speech by Principal Burton T. Hynes. Then, four NHS cabinet members where introduced: Corway Chao, Ellen Shi, Kelci Beatty, and Amanda Tsai. Each gave a speech on one of the four pillars of NHS – Leadership, Service, Character, and Scholarship – and lit a ceremonial candle in a gesture to honor each quality.

As senior members Leiana Dean and Christina Pepe read the names of the new members, inductees enjoyed a few moments in the limelight as the crossed the stage to the congratulations of administrators and advisers. When all members had been recognized, the inductees lit candle of their own and recited the NHS pledge in unison.

Such a well-orchestrated ceremony of course could not have been achieved without significant contributions on the part of many NHS members and advisers.

“[One challenge was] never really having a stable ninth period due to a lot of assemblies. Just trying to get together with cabinet and order everything and get everything organized was challenging, but we had great members that really came through and did a lot of things on their own,” said Machado. “And just trying to get through all the applications with the faculty council and verify information, that’s always a tough challenge, but it’s also rewarding to see all the kids that are stellar students and wonderful role models come and represent North Penn.”

All those involved with putting together the evening contributed long hours of work into making it the best possible experience for new members and their parents, with many staying after school until nearly 10 o’clock on the night of induction. Beforehand, members attended a rehearsal meeting and put meticulous effort into running the ceremony smoothly and perfecting the pronunciation of each inductee’s name.

But the devoted efforts of those involved certainly paid off in an evening which proved a promising commencement for this distinguished organization. The Honor Society already has begun laying the framework for their year as a club and service organization with a number of different events.

“We’re going to do Mr. North Penn – we’ll have a little preview for that beforehand. We might be doing something with “the Stars of North Penn,” so I’m hoping that we have a lot of boys coming out and auditioning for that,” said Machado. “Our normal fundraiser is butterbraids, plus we do the For Pete’s Sake Walk, which is a wonderful organization that we volunteer at in the spring, so we’re going to try to repeat those events.”

Following the glory, applause, and celebratory cake, the members of the National Honor Society have a year of hard work and devotion to charity and scholarship ahead of them. They will spend many hours further developing the attributes which earned them admission into the rankings of one of North Penn’s most selective clubs, whether by way of schoolwork or service. But hopefully each one of them will look back from time to time on induction evening, remembering it fondly as a night of honor and accolades in celebration of student contributions not only to North Penn but to all those around them.