The WESS National Honor Society (NHS), our school’s chapter of the nationwide organization that is dedicated to scholarship, service, and leadership, has been busy creating service projects to support our school and local community. WESS Side Stories spoke to NHS members about the projects they are working on, and the committees they’ve created as the founding members of our NHS chapter.

In NHS, committees were created to organize the members into groups and put their ideas into action. One of those committees, which is focused on Community Outreach and supporting the local community, recently held a Zoom event service project where students made cards for hospitalized children. 

Jasmine Sanchez, NHS secretary and a member of the committee believes that the group’s work is more critical now than ever before.

“There are a lot more people that might need help and support because of COVID and everything’s that going on,” she said. “It’s important that we’re able to help out in any way we can. ”

Another Committee dedicated to WESS Outreach is creating events for fellow students. According to Marcus Hopper, NHS President and a committee member, the committee is currently planning a WESS Trivia Night for middle and high school students, which will cover topics such as music, TV, sports, and pop culture, on February 3rd at 5:00 PM via Zoom.

Nicholas Badagliacca, NHS Vice president and a member of the Outreach Committee hopes that the WESS Trivia Night will be unifying for WESS students.

Badagliacca thinks the event will “bring WESS together as a community and help students who may be feeling left out and who may not be doing the best during these isolating times.”

Another opportunity to bring WESS students together is a virtual Game Night fundraiser being planned by the NHS Financial Committee. According to committee member and NHS Treasurer Malek Elashry, they are not only focused on planning fundraising events, but creating an efficient system for managing funds. 

“If we work to establish this framework,” he said. “We can make it a lot easier to help all of the committees plan and pay for events and interact with the school.”

The Social Media Committee is also dedicated to supporting other committees and their events and engaging students. Kiki Dattoma, NHS Historian and member of the Social Media Committee said they will be creating virtual posters for the Virtual Game Night fundraiser to encourage student involvement. She also described a social media campaign on Instagram that introduced NHS officers to the school. 

“Our next project is to get pictures from everyone in NHS and facts about each person to create an Instagram slideshow so everyone knows who we are,” Dattoma said. 

As the NHS committees plan these upcoming events, Molly Porcher, NHS’ Chapter Advisor, said the students’ work is key to building community when we need it the most. 

“What we really need right now, especially during COVID and quarantine, is students willing to bring people together in different and unique ways,” Porcher said. “I love the students’ leadership, how much initiative they take, and that the different NHS committees are coming up with activities to help their peers and bring the community together.”