Bishop Noll’s chapter of the National Honor Society is reviving old traditions and working hard to create new ones with a veteran teacher, Rosalie Schmidt leading some of the best and brightest students in Bishop Noll. With a new teacher in charge, along comes a new group of fresh-faced officers.

Along with teacher Rosalie Schmidt, who is the sponsor, a group of seniors lead by example. Mary Lowry holds the title of President, followed by Nate Anglin who holds the title of Vice President, along with secretary Lauryn Cureton, Treasurer Cassandra Marquez, and Blood Drive Chairwoman Claire Kalinowski. With a new group of students leading their peers both in and out of Honor Society, there is a lot of responsibility.

“As the president of NHS, I do a few different things. I am responsible for running NHS meetings, in addition to helping come up with a schedule of what to talk about at meetings,” Lowry said.The other officers play a huge part in this, too. I also help come up with/organize service opportunities for the organization. At the end of the year, I help Ms. Schmidt to run the Honors Night Induction Ceremony.”

Schmidt wants Noll’s NHS group to be active and live up to their description as students who demonstrate “excellence in the areas of scholarship, leadership, service, and character”.

“My goal is to have a successful induction ceremony with quality students making their way into NHS,” Schmidt said.I would like to make things more rigorous, however, I have to stay within the boundaries set by the Maryknoll chapter. I have yet to read the entire set of rules. Students have signed a contract much like the one that Ms. Abbasy required when she ran the society”.

Schmidt added in her responsibilities, which is she excited about.

“As a first year NHS sponsor, I am trying to understand all the parameters of the job.  My first goal and change is to foster more and responsible blood drives.  We will be having four drives this year.  As you may know, the first one went well.”

The next three drives are January 23, March 20, and May 17.

While Lowry is in charge of leading and planning most activities, she is not alone in keeping up with responsibilities. Juniors and seniors alike must commit to five hours of tutoring their peers each semester, volunteering at the Carmelite Home in East Chicago, and helping out with four blood drives, when in previous years, there had only been three.

“NHS is about being an example of what it means not only to be a scholar but also what it means to be an example for all people. I definitely think that the most rewarding part of NHS is just knowing the difference that our work makes in people’s lives. We’re going to be doing some work this year with the Carmelite Home in East Chicago, working for the children there, and it’s just a great feeling to know that their lives will be better because we put in time and talent of our own”.

Schmidt echoed Lowry’s position, saying, “I want all NHS members to go off to college with a grounded understanding of service to the other people in the world.  I want our NHS members to recognize a need and work to fill it.  They need to know what needs to be done and how they can help”.