On Friday, November 2, thirty students were inducted into the National Honor Society at The Gunston School. The National Honor Society (NHS) is a prestigious organization for students in upper grades, which requires them to hold a them to meet rigorous national and school standards in the areas of scholarship, leadership, service, and character.
The inductees, their parents, and current NHS members gathered in the Susie Konkel Atrium for breakfast, pictures and celebration before the induction ceremony that was held in the Field House. Welcoming remarks were made by Headmaster John Lewis, who spoke about the importance of pursuing the four key National Honor Society values: leadership, character, service, and scholarship.
Following Mr. Lewis’ remarks, the keynote address was delivered by alumnae Ms. Laura Woods ‘11. Ms. Wood graduated from Rhodes College in 2015 with a major in Environmental Studies and a minor in Economics. After college, Ms. Wood came back to the Eastern Shore in the hope of applying her degree where she grew up. She worked first on a 45 ft wooden yawl sailboat, XAPA, then in January of 2016 she started at the Sassafras River Association (SRA) as an administrative assistant. In January of 2017, Ms. Wood started working at the Chester River Association as an Office Manager, while continuing with SRA as well. In January of this year the two organization merged, along with the Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy, to form ShoreRivers. Ms. Wood now serves as a Watershed Coordinator and manages the Marylanders Grow Oysters program for the Chester and Corsica, organize shoreline cleanups with local groups, monitor agricultural restoration projects, and support our Riverkeeper programs.
Photo: Front row L to R: Frankie Fisher, Cedar Foster, Joey Zhuo, Cynthia Yang, Grace Holmes, Lynsey Hildebrand, Nina De Angelo, Katie Schiwy, Eily Ashley, Natalie Cockey. 2nd row L to R: Laura Wood, Katie Moreau, Anna Wolf, Paige Murphy, Areopl Bai, MacCallum Borghardt, Cotter Buckley, Erica Reece, Isabella Santoboni, Mason Rudolfs, 3rd row L to R: Will Gibson, Wyatt Howell, Will Newberg, Allen Wang, Lily Judd, Nick Kellogg, back row L to R: Max Gaspers Scott, Peter Sharpless, Owen White, Sam Umidi, missing Andrew Amygdalos
Ms Wood spoke fondly of her years at Gunston where she had ample opportunities to direct her own learning and explore a myriad of interesting and relevant topics with caring teachers committed to the success and growth of all students. Ms. Wood encouraged the NHS members and all of the students to embrace the learning opportunities available to them here. Ms. Wood also shared her deep appreciation for our local watershed and how much she valued Gunston’s past, current, and future commitment to environmental education and sustainability. She stated her hope for the future of the Chesapeake Watershed “… to see healthy waterways that can support the ecosystems and industries that rely on them—and to see collaboration between policy, environmental organizations, agriculture, watermen, and landowners to get us there.” She closed with heartfelt congratulations to the newly inducted members of NHS.
To highlight the core values of NHS, four candles were lit by current members, as senior and NHS president Megan Prochaska spoke about the meaning of each value. NHS Secretary Marisa Pisapia read each inductees’ accomplishments as they were called up one-by-one, to receive a certificate, pin, and rose, and to sign their names into the NHS registry. To make them official members of the society, current members pinned the inductees with a pin bearing the NHS logo and the pledge was recited, led by Megan Prochaska. Mr. Michael Kaylor, the NHS advisor, concluded the ceremony with high praises to the students for their accomplishments.
We congratulate this year’s NHS Chapter Officers and Inductees.
Officers
President: Megan Prochaska, Vice President: Davy Song, Secretary: Marisa Pisapia, Treasurer: Anneliese Clair
Members
Nick Basham, Karen Chen, Shiloh Clark, Becky DeFino, Cora Duncan, Katie Easter, Cole Evans, Menel Harris, Leah Hellwege, Phin Howell, Claire Johnson, Camy Kelly, Nick Lee, Ellie Merton, Paige Murphy, James Pratt, Caroline Roser, Drew Seaman, Elena Sherman, Nellie Stup, Cynthia Yang, Vickey Zhou
Inductees
Andrew Amygdalos, Eli Ashley, Areopl Bai, Mac Borghardt, Cotter Buckley, Natalie Cockey, Nina De Angelo, Frankie Fisher, Cedar Foster, Will Gibson, Lynsey Hildebrand, Grace Holmes, Wyatt Howell, Lily Judd, Nick Kellogg, Katie Moreau, Paige Murphy, Will Newberg, Erica Reece, Mason Rudolfs, Isabella Santoboni, Katie Schiwy, Peter Sharpless, Max Gaspers Scott, Sam umidi, Allen Wang, Owen White, Anna Wolf, Cynthia Yang, Joey Zhuo
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