Actions speak louder than– sitting at home. National Honor Society, a volunteer and leader based organization, has begun their application process to continue the Fenton High School Chapter into next year. Comprised of students with GPAs above 3.5 and a wide range of extracurricular activities, many consider NHS the club for the school’s top students.

“I am still trying to find a way to balance running, homework and volunteering. I tried to put in volunteer hours before track season starts, but I will have to give up some free time outside of practice and homework to volunteer,” junior Jenna Keiser said. “Homework, track and volunteering are priorities for me. It is just a matter of finding time to do all three to be well balanced. Once you find time for all that, it is well worth it in the end.”

Every year, NHS accepts students who are approved by the committee, based off the eligible students applications. They are invited to apply based on their GPA.

“Mr. Miller gets a list of grade point averages from the main office,” NHS President Michael Fabitz said. “If they have a 3.5 (weighted) or above then they were put on the list. The list was forwarded to me and I sent out a letter during SRT to each student on Mar. 7.”

This letter is one of the first steps of the applications process. Following this step, students were asked attend an informational meeting and fill out an application online. Even though this is the end of the student’s process in applying, there are more steps that follow.

“After the applications are collected, the NHS executive board eliminates all references to the person’s name in the application,” advisor Charles Miller said. “Then I give those applications to our review committee. The review committee meets and discusses the applications, and then they vote on who they think is most suitable for NHS.”

The committee meets one evening to review the applications turned in. While waiting to hear back from Miller and NHS Fenton Chapter, Miller and Fabatz encourage the applicants to consider further if this is the right choice for them.

“NHS involves hard work. Members are expected to volunteer and go to meetings,” Fabatz said. “Members should already have volunteering experience before joining. We are the face of FHS and when we volunteer, we do not want someone to be disrespectful or rude to the community organizers that reached out to us for our help.”

Applications for the 2016-17 members are due Mar. 24 at the beginning of the day in room 1-118. Applicants will receive an acceptance or rejection letter during the week of April 4-8.