Free State recently introduced a chapter of National English Honor Society [NEHS] sponsored by English teachers, Kylee Johnston and Sophia Coen. Johnston and Coen worked to create the chapter with the goal of encouraging students to get more involved with reading and writing this year.
NEHS has more than 1,250 chapters in 36 countries, with 36,000 students being enrolled between March 2023 and March 2024. Coen stated that the foundations of NEHS are built on students who have a passion for English.
“The National English Honor Society is a nationally recognized honor society that’s geared towards students who want to pursue a career in writing, the humanities, analysis of literature in some way, journalism[and toward] people who have a love for reading and writing,” Coen said.
NEHS gives students access and opportunities to pursue English based events, student leadership as well as exposure to different facets of English. Additionally, NEHS gives students easier access to English-focused scholarships.
“There’s [lots of scholarships] related to reading a specific common book, and once you’ve read that common book, there’s essay prompts, and you can discuss it with your other members and then write an essay,” Coen said. “There’s also creative scholarship opportunities; for instance, monologues or screenplays. There are also thematic, specific scholarships, like social justice.”
Senior President Gillian Sellet, Senior Vice President Anwen Williams and the rest of the NEHS board organize events and oversee the club. Sellet feels that the expansive board gives ample opportunities for student leadership.
“We have a giant officer board,” Sellet said. “There are historians that find creative ways to keep track of what we’ve done in our chapter; we have a secretary, [a treasurer] and we have a PR chair.”
Additionally, NEHS plans on hosting events to promote the community’s literacy as well as raise money for the program. The board has plans for other events, including guest speakers and creating little free libraries: neighborhood libraries with take a book, leave a book policies.
“We are planning on doing a book drive around the holidays and things like that,” Sellet said. “So partially volunteering, partially like donations.”
Learn more at Free State NEHS’ instagram: @freestatenehs
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