Spanish Honor Society
The Spanish Honor Society, la Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica, is an honor society for high school students sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. The Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica (SHH) was formally organized as the Spanish National Honor Society in 1953. The name was changed to Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica in 1959.
The Spanish Honor Society recognizes the outstanding, high-level achievement of high school students in Spanish and Portuguese. At present, there are over 3,500 national and international chapters of the Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica. Mrs. Cuyar is the State Director for South Carolina of the Spanish Honor Society. She has been the State Director for South Carolina of the Spanish Honor Society since 2013.
Our chapter at Hillcrest High School was established by Mrs. Anna Cuyar in 2012 with the support of Mrs. Georgia Brown, department chairperson at the time, and Mr. Stephen A. Chamness, Hillcrest High School principal at the time. Dr. G. Bryan Skipper, Hillcrest High School principal from 2014 to 2021, and Dr. Patrick Jarrett, our current Hillcrest High School principal, have continued to support the Hillcrest High School chapter of the Spanish Honor Society, and their support is very much appreciated. Two hundred and eighteen current and former Hillcrest High School students are members of the HHS chapter of the Spanish Honor Society.
Our SHH chapter is named the Jaime Escalante Chapter, Capítulo Jaime Escalante, in honor of this winner of the Presidential Medal for Excellence and member of the National Teachers Hall of Fame who said, “We are all concerned about the future of American education. But as I tell my students, you do not enter the future - you create the future. The future is created through hard work.”
Requirements to be invited to apply to be considered for membership in the Hillcrest High School chapter of the Spanish Honor Society are each of the following:
the completion of Spanish III
enrollment in Spanish IV Honors, Spanish V Honors, AP Spanish Language and Culture or AP Spanish Literature and Culture at Hillcrest High School
a cumulative minimum average of 3.0 (80%) in all high school Spanish courses
a minimum overall high school GPA of 3.0 (80%)
character attributes of excellence in all areas
Invitations to apply to be considered for membership in the Hillcrest High School chapter of the Spanish Honor Society are sent to all eligible students via school email or Google Classroom.
