By Jamari Saint Cyr
The National English Honors Society, acronym NEHS, is a club for Language Arts students who enjoy reading and writing activities. In order for students to qualify for the club, they must have an unweighted GPA of 3.0 overall and an unweighted English GPA of 3.0, as well as submit a sample of their own writing of some kind.
The club sponsors are English teachers Mrs. Gardiner and Mrs. Houvouras, who both have a very straightforward expectation for students that are members of the club, which is that they hold a love for the subject of English as a whole. “We look for students who are enthusiastic about the subject. We don’t want people to join just for their resume; we really want them to love literature,” shared Mrs. Houvouras. The same was true for Mrs. Gardiner when asked what she looks for in students who are in NEHS, commenting, “[We] expect them to earn their points each quarter by participating in our events and spreading the love of reading and writing to others.”
It’s their love and appreciation for English that drew both Mrs. Houvouras and Mrs. Gardiner to NEHS. “My love of English and reading is lifelong,” said Mrs. Gardiner, “but as an English teacher, I saw this as a way to become more involved in the school. It feels nice to interact with many of my students, past, and present, outside of the classroom while giving back to our school and community.”
Mrs. Houvouras
Mrs. Houvouras has taught English I and currently teaches AP English Literature and has been a club sponsor for NEHS for three years and counting. She still shares an enthusiasm for the club. “Well, since I’m an English teacher and I love working with students,” she said, “it just seemed like a natural club to sponsor. When Mrs. Gardiner agreed to co-sponsor with me that was the determining factor. She’s great to work with.”
Mrs. Houvouras elaborated on her partnership with Mrs. Gardiner on NEHS and how they combine each of their minds together to work towards the goal of running NEHS as smoothly as they can. “Mrs. Gardiner and I share the same vision for the club, and we can depend on each other. The fact that we’re friends as well as colleagues makes it more fun for us to work together.”
Mrs. Gardiner similarly had nothing but great things to comment about working with Mrs. Houvouras. “It is wonderful to work with Ms. Houvouras,” she shared. “She is passionate about English and is creative when thinking of the events we will participate in for the year. We try to balance the club and all that goes along with sponsoring a club through teamwork.”
NEHS has a variety of projects and activities that they participate in during the school year. “For the last couple of years we did reading and homework help at the elementary schools, but this year we’ve had a hard time setting that up,” explained Mrs. Houvouras. “For the holidays, we held a book drive and donated children’s books to a local elementary school. This year we’ve published one edition of our literary magazine, Quoth the Darter, and several of our members submitted creative writing. We plan to publish another edition 2nd semester. We’re doing kind of a crazy spelling bee in February (it’s going to get messy) and an Open Mic Night in March.”
Even though we’re at the start of the second semester, Mrs. Gardiner still has goals set for what she hopes to achieve for NEHS this year. “One goal for the club this year would be to make all of our events larger and to bring out more students to participate. We have a great Open Mic Night and a Spelling Bee coming up; it would be amazing to see some fresh faces coming to check out the action and participate.”
The club meets on the first Thursdays of each month and though the cut off for joining this year’s National English Honor’s society is long overdue, there will be chances to join the club for the 2018-2019 school year!