Today I will be talking about how to get into the National Junior Honor Society in Colonia Middle School and my experience and what I had to do to get in!

First I will explain the requirements as of now in 2023, 

1. Be in Seventh or Eighth Grade
2. Have good grades and be on the Honor Roll

Those are the main requirements before you can actually apply. Now I will tell you the additional requirements you need to meet in order to apply,

1. Behave well in class
2. Get recommendations from teachers
3. Do at least 20 hours of community service from last July until now
4. Get a recommendation from someone not in your family or in the school
5. Be in a club before they tell you, you are eligible
6. Get many signatures
7. Write an Essay about the five topics

1. Scholarship
2. Participate and Leadership
3. Citizenship and Character
4. Service
5. Purpose

Side Note: The more hours you have the better chance you have of getting in.

Some strategies to try to get in is to start as early as you can, as in start doing community service after July of the year you can get in, get in a club early, try your very best to have good grades, and to behave well despite what you think you should do. 

So my experience of getting into NJHS was a little difficult. First, I try to get good grades and make sure I behave well in class as a norm, so that part was easy for me. 

I had done quite a bit of community service last year, so I thought I was okay at first. I was in seventh grade, so I was in the right grade. And then the announcement came out and I found out that all the hours I had done last year for community service got canceled out. But luckily I had been doing community service in the summer when I wasn’t doing anything and continued throughout the year.

Then I found out it was a requirement to be in a sport or school club. I had wanted to join the ski club at the beginning of the year but was unable to because it was never formed this year. 

Luckily I had joined the newspaper club in January when I saw that there was an opening. This was very fortunate for me because it was able to count as my club. From my experience, I had found out that I really enjoy the newspaper club and wished I had joined at the beginning of the year. This probably would’ve benefitted me a little more for the NJHS application. 

So I kept doing my community service but put in more effort. I started working on my essay which was pretty difficult for me. After about a week I got my essay done and I had gotten everything filled out. I had submitted and I just had to wait. 

About a month had passed. One day a friend was asking, when do you think we will get in, a lot of time has passed already? I told him I’m not sure I feel like it will be soon. Sure enough that was the day we got in. 

On the Monday for practice there wasn’t much to it, they talked about what we will do and there was really no pressure at all. The same thing happened Tuesday but it was more like the actual ceremony. 

They were allowing us to bring our phones to class since we can’t go back to our lockers. They also let us not bring our backpacks, so we brought ourselves, our phones, and our ID’s to school. So I entered the bus with my full suit minus the jacket and I talked with my friends about it. I went to Homeroom and then first block anxiously waiting for the announcement to go to the cafeteria. 

The announcement finally came and I was nervous. I entered the line where we had to be in. I talked with someone and then they recorded us in the line going up, sadly you can’t really see me. We entered and got in our chairs, did the Pledge of Allegiance, and sat back down. Many people spoke, including Principal Mr. Short, Superintendent Dr. Massimino, the Mayor, and more important people gave speeches. 

After that the eighth graders that were already in, went up to shake hands, get a certificate, and get their strings. This felt like it was forever. The Eighth grade inductees went up and shook hands, signed their names, got a certificate, and got their string.

Finally after what felt like a century, the seventh graders started getting called up. I was close to the front so luckily I got called up early. We had to shake hands, get our certificate, and sign our names. Went back down to my seat and sat down.

After all this, Mr. Short gave a final speech, and the ceremony was over. I have to say that after finally getting in and after all my hard work, I felt really relieved and proud that I made it in.

We got our phones and our ID’s and you could go back to class or your family could sign you out for the day. My family and I got lunch and I made up the school work.

That was my experience with getting in and I hope some tips that may help you!