 During the christmas season, NHS ran a Candy Cane Gram within the school. Selling candy canes at lunch along with a small note, they were organized and delivered to students before school ended for christmas break. By both raising money and raising spirits, NHS was able to use this activity to promote donating money to a charity, while allowing the whole school as a community to communicate positive emotions with each other.
Delivering the grams allowed for NHS members to collaborate on organization and planning for delivering school wide. This activity taught value of using the spirit to give to give to both a local and broader community, and was a good experience that developed skills in organization and also knowing more about Hillcrest’s hallways. The forms for the students who purchased the grams were a bit vague and did sometimes create confusion in where students were sometimes, and it would be easier to organize if the form when purchasing the candy canes had a place to put the classroom number where the student was, not just the teacher, so there could have been less confusion and wandering to locate classrooms. However, overall, the activity was a good experience that allowed for good vibes to be shared in the school.
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 Attending Canyon Creek is a fun service that I believe fits the NHS purpose. It requires both enthusiasm and a desire for service and helps develop the character of all of our NHS members. It also motivates me to serve in the future as it is a service I really enjoy performing. Canyon Creek has taught me to be service oriented and also how to get to know those that I serve. In order to have a really fun time at Canyon Creek you have to get to know the residents there.
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” -Martin Luther King, Jr. We spent the afternoon at Canyon Creek Senior Living on November 16, 2016. We did various activities with the residents there including puzzles, get-to-know-you games, and a very competitive round of bingo. I thought the activity was very entertaining and fun. Although it was not necessarily life-changing, I really enjoyed serving the senior citizens at Canyon Creek. I have appreciated the opportunity to go to Canyon Creek. I feel I have grown as a person this year as I have had the opportunity to serve others, and I am grateful for the experiences I have had. I know the seniors at Canyon Creek love the enthusiasm and fun we bring as teenagers and the service we provide them is really appreciated.  This activity relates to the National Honor Society’s purpose because it is service to those around us and improves our community. I have loved tutoring and have learned about people from all different backgrounds and have been able to make new friends through tutoring. Gandhi once said “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others” and this has proven true for me. Martin Luther King Jr. also said “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?” I think this is a good question to think about and can lead one to becoming more active in serving others. I have tutored in the mornings before school often and many other National Honor Society members and I have been available to any students who walk in the door. We help students with their homework, practicing English, or anything else they need. My favorite thing to do at tutoring is just talking to them and getting to know them, it has opened my eyes to the wide variety of people that attend Hillcrest. I really like tutoring because I get to meet new people that are not usually in my school classes. It has been a great experience for me because it has given me an opportunity to help my peers.
In order to make up a Canyon Creek activity, Ms. Hawkins gave me and Gracie the opportunity to plan the next Canyon Creek. It was a great experience. The purpose of NHS is to create enthusiasm for scholarship, stimulate a desire to render service, and promote leadership and character in students in secondary schools. I feel like this activity taught me just that. Canyon Creek is all about. I learned about how to be a leader. I developed activity planning skills, which is essential to a successful life. I also learned to thoroughly care and learn to love the people i’m serving. Before, I used to be nervous helping other people, but Canyon Creek has allowed me to grow and love to serve. “Service is the rent that we pay to live here on earth”. So I needed to plan Canyon Creek, so I planned to play bingo and do board games. I heard people said it might be a little boring so I asked the Canyon Creek staff for any extra games etc. I found that it worked fairly well. Everyone seemed very happy and interactive. They seemed very glad to see us and we all had a great time as well. This Canyon Creek was the January activity. I don’t think this activity was pointless at all. Interacting with these individuals was by no means a waste of time. It was a very worth while event. One day, all of us will grow old and might have to have others interact and take care of us. Having a good mentality to empathize and relate to other people is a very valuable skill. I had a great time planning, participating, and reflecting about this activity. I would gladly do this again.  Spending time helping NHS Officers has been a great experience. I’ve been able to volunteer additional time aiding behind the scenes. It gives me an opportunity to become more involved in the service projects. I’ve helped to carry supplies for projects such as volunteering to transport decorations for the homecoming dance at Canyon Creek. I’ve stepped in when others couldn’t make it and helped out when we were in need of more people. I’ve given rides to people around Salt Lake City in order to pass out burritos to the homeless for our Burrito Project. This fulfils the purpose of NHS, which is to serve selflessly and to help those in need. I was able to learn how to work hard in order to serve other and to how to follow directions effectively. It’s been a blessing to sacrifice time and effort in order to help those in need and to help keep the Hillcrest High School NHS working properly and effectively.  To gain some service hours for National Honor Society at Hillcrest, I have been volunteering at the Utah Humane Society. The activities that I take part in are walking dogs, brushing cats, cleaning kennels and litter boxes, etc. This activity is not only fun, but it also is doing good for the homeless animals in Utah. How does this activity relate to NHS's purpose? This activity relates to NHS’s purpose because it allows you to participate in service activities while contributing to the community. It builds character because you get to meet new people and gain customer service skills while caring for animals. What did I learn? I learned through the Humane Society that many animals are given up or abandoned every single day. I didn’t realize the extent of this until volunteering at their Utah shelter. Most of the time their kennels are filled up completely, which is very unfortunate. Their goal as a no-kill shelter is to have all animals adopted by loving and caring families. “Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve.” -Martin Luther King, Jr. The above pictures are of some of the animals that I have met while volunteering at the Humane Society of Utah. In the dog pictures, I took them outside to the outside kennels to run around, play fetch, and go to the bathroom. The Humane Society always has a lot of animals, so I spend my time trying to get each dog outside for around 20 minutes. The Kitty City at the Humane Society includes around 20 cat condos, which are rooms with about 5 cats in each. They have toys, blankets, litter boxes, and even flat screen TVs that play bird videos. I think it is really fun to spend some time in each room with the cats and brush them or pet them. Review of the Humane Society: My honest review of the Humane Society is that it is a great institution because it has a no-kill policy. All of the animals are treated very kindly by the staff, and volunteering is extremely easy and fun! I plan to continue volunteering at the Humane Society even after my membership in NHS because it is fun to hang out with animals all day, and it really makes me feel good to know that I am helping to get these animals adopted. Overall it has been an amazing experience for far! I would definitely recommend anyone who needs service hours or even just wants to pet animals to volunteer at the Humane Society. The volunteering process is very easy, you just sign up online then have an orientation day. At first I thought it would be a hassle to sign up, but the staff there is very welcoming and volunteering is basically whatever you want to do. Most days, I either walk the dogs or pet the cats. SIgn up at their website https://www.utahhumane.org/, it is a blast!   How does this activity relate to NHS's purpose?
Serving at the Graduation ceremony relates to NHS’s purpose because we are first showing enthusiasm for scholarship. We supported last year’s seniors and their scholastic efforts in high school. We are also portraying our desire to serve. What did you learn? I learned how to work as a team and how to be organized. With all of the pamphlets that we had to hand out, I had to work well with others and communicate in order to be effective. Activity: Several NHS members and I volunteered at last year’s graduation ceremony at the Maverik Center in June. We along with the cheerleaders handed out pamphlets and program guides to all of the guests. We dispersed ourselves to various entrance ways and greeted our guests with the pamphlets. Review: I thought that serving at the graduation ceremony was a very fun experience. I got to serve with a lot of my friends and we had a good time. The graduation guests were also very kind when they received their pamphlets. In regards to this service overall, I initially didn’t think it was very worthwhile or meaningful. After all, we were just handing out pamphlets. However, the thankful sentiments I received from the guests made it worthwhile in my opinion. To think that our service made their day a little more pleasurable for a special event of their beloved graduate is also pleasing to think of. Quote: “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” -Muhammed Ali PTC Volunteering This activity relates to NHS’s purpose because during this activity I took the initiative to be a leader and help others out in meaningful service. I took the lead to assist others during the PTC meeting. Another meaningful part of NHS’s purpose is to develop character, I needed to be willing to be caring and passionate in order to truly help others. I learned that it is important to be an active listener when doing service because you can learn more and realize that there are so many more opportunities to help others. For example, someone asked for help with figuring out where something was, and I learned that many others had a similar question so I was able to assist more people (just from active listening!). This reminds me of a quote about service, “Honor bespeaks worth. Confidence begets trust. Service brings satisfaction. Cooperation proves the quality of leadership” by James Cash Penney. These are the qualities that service brings out in people. The activity I did was volunteering during PTC. I helped out by assisting SBOs, parents, and other members find their way and understand where to go during the program. I did this activity in November, and I volunteered for 3 hours. I believe it was useful because it helped me be more of of an active listener and be able to help others. Although it was not completely life changing, I was able to actively contribute to my community by helping others during an event. Considering other times when I volunteer, sometimes as a tutor, I felt that I could not meet needs as sometimes I could not speak the language of my tutee. This made it difficult because it was hard to explain a concept in biology in english, and it would be much easier if it was in their language. Some of my tutees had very limited english and using complex terms of biology made it hard to teach since I could not speak their language. However, some ideas to help this could be to use google translate more, and explain to them not only through words but through visual means.  Homeless people are scary. They’re dirty people who lurk in the shadows of the night, ready to pounce on those who fall victim to their pitiful plea of “Do you have some spare change?” Or at least, that’s what I thought. When I first started the Burrito Project in September of First Quarter, I was hesitant to hand out burritos, especially since the guy in charge told us that we would be getting the “sketchy area”. However, when the homeless people gratefully and kindly accepted the burrito, some even saying, “God bless you”, I realized that my initial perception of the homeless people was wrong. I was extremely glad to have done the Burrito Project because through this service project, I was able to not only break away from my stigma of homeless people, but I was able to have fun with my friends. Especially with IB and AP, it was a great opportunity for me to get out and get some fresh air. Overall, it’s a service project definitely worth continuing. 
As a volunteer of the Intermountain Healthcare Hospital, my duties include paperwork, tending to patients, and cleaning. I volunteer every Thursday for three hours. While some view it as menial work, it has served as one of the biggest learning experiences of my life. When I first started, I tried to finish my duties while remaining as invisible as possible. I didn't want to inconvenience the overworked nurses and doctors. One day, while I was glamorously sanitizing equipment, a nurse called out to me, "Thanks for doing that — it saves us sooo much time". This simple comment meant so much to me — I realized how big an impact can be derived from such a small act. No matter my place in life, I'm still contributing to a larger cycle — and it can make all the difference. This activity ultimately relates to the purpose of NHS because it stimulates a desire for service, promotes leadership, and develops character. Being a volunteer, you need to be motivated to do your work although you receive no monetary benefit from it. You learn to be accountable for your actions and take proactive steps to better your surroundings without explicitly being told. The skills volunteering teaches you are things no other activity can.  |
AuthorHillcrest National Honors Society Members, Archives
February 2017
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