A total of 56 Mound Westonka High School students were inducted into the National Honor Society (NHS) at a special ceremony for students and their families on May 1. Another 54 seniors, who were inducted into the program last year, were also on hand for special recognition. Senior President Samantha Krahl welcomed the visitors to the Westonka Performing Arts Center (PAC) and thanked the parents for their support and hard work.

The NHS chapter is under new leadership this year, as advisor Jana Paré brought new energy, ideas, and standards to the chapter.

Junior officers Anna Borg, Addison Eaton, Brooke Garlock, Claire Lynch-Bastide, and Claire Rashleger outlined an impressive list of accomplishments during the year.

NHS students contributed an incredible amount of personal time in service throughout the community this year. Service awards went to Miles Lund, Megan Stein, and Brooke Meester. Students offered their talents to the Westonka Food Shelf, Second Harvest, Feed My Starving Children, Lowry Nature Center, several Westonka youth athletic programs, and many other local organizations. Students are expected to volunteer a minimum of 15 hours on their own, but an impressive number of students exceeded the minimum requirement.

NHS students staged another successful poinsettia sale, which will provide scholarships at the upcoming Scholarship Night in May, and they hosted two blood drives in cooperation with the Memorial Blood Center. In addition to maintaining their adopted highway, students also cleaned up the MWHS campus and Haddorff Field. Chapter members embraced their partnership with Western Communities Action Network (WeCAN) by volunteering, fundraising, and developing new initiatives.

The inductees recited the new member pledge, which encourages high standards of scholarship, leadership, service, and character. Senior NHS officers Krahl, Maisie Wheeler, Ada Bedell, and Cassie Nemecek spoke to each of these standards.

As the new members were introduced, each received a certificate from Assistant Principal Marty Fischer. The officers thanked Principal Jolene Herfel for her encouragement and support throughout the year. Herfel presented her reflections on NHS membership. The second year NHS members were recognized and thanked for their leadership and service.

Newly inducted junior members of NHS include Phaedra Bain, Tanner Blume, Anna Borg, Emma Carlson, Luke Carlson, Jaden Christ, Alicia Clobes, Cole Drill, Addison Eaton, Tor Erdahl, Ruby Finck, Andrew Finley, Eli Frerichs, Brooke Garlock, Ashley Ham, Kayla Hatlestad, Isaac Hays, Jessica Hoernemann, Rachel Jensen, Annemarie Johnson, Raul Jordan, Sabrina Kaganovsky, Audrey Kirscht, Max Kraay, Piper Landsman, Alexa Leonard, Miles Lund, Claire Lynch-Bastide, Stella Miner, Charlotte Mitlyng, Matthew Mobagi, Rohan Reddy Nella, Stella Nikolov, Aubrey Nye, Gracie O'Halloran, Avery Olson, Jacob Orenge, Taryn Peglow, Ellie Putnam, Claire Rashleger, Sophia Reimer, Tristan Rogstad, Amber Sanchez Mcconnell, Madeleine Sanders, Peyton Schmidt, Mason Sebasky, Brenden Sexton, Sara Sipprell, Braeden Trundle, Lauren Velander, Eric Von Holtz, and Mia Weaver. 2024 senior inductees include Jack Butler, Michael Oftedahl, Johnny Range, and Megan Stein.

Seniors who were inducted into the NHS program last year include Olivia Adam, Maxwell Anderson, Aurora Antilla, Colter Applegate, Aleksandr Barnes, Ada Bedell, Caryn Childers, William Courneya, Helen Dosedel, Rachel Erickson, Sage Finck, Jack Hall, Camryn Hargreaves, Bryce Helms, Ryan Hempel, Samuel Holmberg, Alec Jable, Stella Johnson, Ella Knock, Samantha Krahl, Sienna Loughlin, Sophia Louricas, Jack Markstrom, Lucas Markstrom, Kendra Mattson, Owen Mccue, Brooke Meester, Henry Meisel, Ryza Mendoza, Natalie Miner, Jack Moch, Marshall Morrison, Alex Nachreiner, Marissa Nelson, Cassie Nemecek, Matthew Neumann, Audrey Nygaard, Torin O’Connor, Anna Olson, Isaac Paul, Charlie Paul, Maquinna Peglow, Jillian Peterson, Michael Proulx, August Schaefer, Cormac Schaefer, Kendall Sebasky, Annika Weir, Maisie Wheeler, Camryn Winther, Anna Wood, Andrew Wood, Ingrid Wulf, and Averie Zeall.

Paré offered a special thank you to parents and families for their encouragement, to teachers, staff, and administrators for their support, and to the students for helping shape and strengthen the organization.

“It was a wonderful night!” said Paré.