Honor societies are some of the most popular extracurriculars at RM – they provide benefits and valuable experiences along with friendships that last throughout the entirety of high school. However, many students, especially freshmen, have unanswered questions about what honor societies do and which one is best for them.

The most well-known honor society among all students is the National Honor Society (NHS). Corresponding with its name, the NHS is a national organization dedicated to promoting academic excellence and the two attributes of leadership and service.

The NHS has detailed requirements for joining – students must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 and demonstrate characteristics such as academic commitment and leadership. Only sophomores through seniors are eligible for consideration. Students then submit an application to the local chapter, and if accepted, become members of the NHS.

The NHS provides many benefits, such as leadership conferences, college scholarships and service projects. But before submitting an application, students should consider whether they have the time to meet the volunteer hour requirements, as well as why they want to join in the first place.

Despite RM offering more than ten honor societies, the honor societies apart from NHS are far less known. These honor societies can generally be split up into categories: languages contain Spanish, French and Chinese; electives contain art, computer science and music; and the cores contain English, science and social studies.

The Spanish National Honor Society (SHH) aims to serve the community while appreciating the culture and language. To do this, they hold cultural celebrations among other activities, which have been a tradition at RM for many years.

“We had our Día de los Muertos celebration, where we painted sugar skulls and ate pan de muerto,” SHH President and senior Anna Lee said. “We also [want] to incorporate more field trips. We just did one to the National Museum of the American Latino, and it was a very fulfilling experience.”

The SHH is also a great place for people who are interested in Spanish to meet others with the same interests and serve the community. 

“Meeting people who are also interested in Spanish has encouraged me as I learn more Spanish. If I have a question, sometimes I’ll ask my SHH friends,” Lee said. “An honor society is a really good way to get plugged into an academic community.”

The SHH has relatively lower commitment and requirements compared to the NHS. It meets on the first Monday of every month and requires a $20 fee when registering. 

“You have to be taking Spanish right now or have taken the AP exam and done well in order to be able to join the society, but you’re officially a part of the society if you pay the dues, turn in the forms and also get 10 credits,” Lee said. “You get credits by attending cultural appreciation events, by tutoring or by serving the community in other ways through your Spanish.”

Another often overlooked honor society is the Tri-M Music Honor Society, or just Tri-M. Tri-M focuses on giving musicians the opportunity to grow and become more confident, as well as spreading music to the community.

“Tri-M is in charge of making sure that all of the instrumental and chorus concerts go smoothly, at least in terms of audience,” Historian and junior Shirley Han said. “So we’re the ones setting up food out in the lobby and also the ones holding open the doors for everybody to enter. We also do a lot of work for our community and volunteer a lot in nursing homes.”

Tri-M meets every other Friday in the chorus room during lunch, during which people perform music for the rest of the members.

“I know that I personally had very bad stage fright and I hated performing solo, but after doing a bunch of Tri-M performances, I’ve honestly built up my confidence a lot,” Han said. “I’ve learned how to deal with stress and anxiety when I have to perform in front of other people.”

Han has made many memories from Tri-M meetings.

“We have a Beethoven birthday party every year and it’s super fun. We just celebrate. We celebrate Beethoven’s birthday, and there’s cake and we present a slideshow about him and his life, and listen to a bunch of Beethoven and maybe hear some performances from the students,” she said.

In order to join Tri-M, students must be enrolled in a music ensemble class and maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0. If in a music ensemble, freshmen can still join, but they will not go through the induction ceremony until the following year.

The National Art Honor Society (NAHS) is also offered at RM. It combines the arts with community service and has a broader mission to create and then display, whether through participating in competitions, participating in exhibits or creating art therapy. 

“We have opportunities rather than meetings. So the email goes out and students can select what opportunities they’d like to participate in, and each activity has a certain number of credits that they accumulate throughout the year,” teacher sponsor and art teacher Ms. Katherine Stanton said.

The requirements involve a small fee and being at least a sophomore, as students must have already taken one year of art in high school. In order to join, students fill out a form and come to an interest meeting. If they pay the fee and meet their credits, then they will be inducted at the end of the year.

“I am that reminder of the background information that needs to go out. And I am the support system for when they need to get the supplies together or work on a project,” Mrs. Stanton said.

Over the past few years, NAHS has broadened its impact on the community.

“We stood up and had discussions with lawmakers as well as [hosted] different events around the community and promoted community interactions,” Mrs. Stanton said. “We also had exhibits we put on and promotions for a lot of the gallery exhibitions that go on. Right now we’re doing youth art, which is painting for a hospital for art therapy.”