About NHS
For many students, selection as a member of the National Honor Society is the pinnacle of their achievement in school. This honor, recognized throughout the nation, is both the public recognition of accomplishment and the private commitment to continued excellence on the part of the new member.
Selection to NHS is a privilege, not a right. Students do not apply for membership in the National Honor Society; instead, they provide information to be used by our local selection committee to support their candidacy for membership. Membership is granted only to those students selected by Faculty Council in the school. This is not an election, nor is membership automatically conveyed simply because the student has reached a specified level of academic performance. NHS is more than just an honor roll.
The emblem of the National Honor Society was first described by E.J. Eaton, one of the first members of the council: "The emblem of this society is the keystone and the flaming torch. The keystone bears at its base the letters CSLS, which stand for the four cardinal principles of the organization: character, scholarship, leadership, and service. As the keystone is placed by the builder to hold the perfect arch in perpetual stability, so the structure of our education must be held firm and true to the purposes of life by the virtues represented in this symbol. To bear forward the searching light of truth, to lead that others may follow in light, to keep burning in our school a high ambition for the enduring values of life, and to service--the purposes are symbolized in the torch."
The official colors of the National Honor Society are blue and gold, and the Society's motto is Noblesse Oblige, a French phrase literally meaning nobility obligates. In broader terms, it signifies that those of high rank (or birth, in its original context) have the obligation to behave honorably, generously, and responsibly to others. The official flower of NHS is the yellow rose.
Candle Lighting Ceremony
The lighted candle represents the society's torch, the symbol of the eternal light of knowledge, flanked by four lighted candles representing scholarship, leadership, service, and character.
