Senior Julia Fleck (blue) pins her younger sister sophomore Lauren Fleck (pink). 

By: Evi Fromm

The Bell-High National Honor Society officers tapped the chapter’s newly accepted inductees during first period on Monday, January 18, at Bellbrook High School.

“I was very shocked, but also happy and relieved when my name was called,” new inductee sophomore Kaitlyn Puchalski said. “Submitting my application for NHS took a lot of time and effort, and now that I have been tapped, I am very grateful and excited for the future knowing my hard work paid off.”

This year, the club will be inducting around 50 new members on Tuesday, March 18. 

In the weeks leading up to the tapping, the officers spent time getting the materials together. 

“The officers had to gather and cut enough blue and gold ribbon to make celebratory ribbons for the tappee’s to wear,” current co-president Oliver Alban said. “And on the day of the tapping, the current NHS members wore their NHS shirts to school to show support for the new members.” 

Before Christmas break, the NHS applications were due. The applicants had been spending weeks getting them filled out and ready to go. 

“Submitting my application for NHS took a lot of time and effort,” Puchalski said. “I had multiple people, including current members of NHS, read both of my essays to assure I included every part of the prompt and gave accurate information about myself.” 

Between the tapping and the end of the school year the new inductees have to complete twenty-five hours of community service. The chapter as a whole has already surpassed 5000 hours of service.

“Being tapped into NHS was a special event as it was proof of my hard work paying off,” Alban said. “All of the time it took to volunteer early in high school, write my essay and complete my packet culminated into a big payoff as I was tapped. While it was the end of one process, it was the start of another as I, like the new tappers will have to do, had to get myself prepared for the induction and later be a member of the organization.”