These pillars represent components of both the Honor Society as well as the Junior National Honor Society for Middle School Students. Induction in these types of service organizations leads to deeper connections, positive influences, role models, and further depth in the entire educational experience we call School.
Speaking about these pillars helped me articulate their true meaning. Leadership, Scholarship, Citizenship, and Service formulate the cornerstones of the application and acceptance process of the Society. They have deep, advanced ,and challenging definitions, but they might also be quite simple. Let’s investigate each term further.
Leadership carries many illustrations, quotes, quips, and little phrases to help us better explain what it means to be a leader. For our purposes, let’s say ”leadership” is doing the right thing, regardless. Acting with integrity, doing what is right, even if nobody else is doing it and taking the high road, even if nobody else follows.. Of course, it is nice to have “followers,” but they might not be right behind. Taking the high road often implies it is harder, more challenging, vacant or lonely--and probably even less traveled Regardless, do the right thing!
Scholarship carries an overtone of great study, perfect report cards, lots of book learning, but further exploration may lead to implications for all of us! For instance, if “scholarship” is doing things right, all the time, the rest of us can participate in scholarship by doing the best we can do in any and all endeavors. Academic avenues are not exclusive. We might do our jobs right, stack our boxes at work properly, work smarter, leave things better than found them, and not take those shortcuts. Our act of scholarship may not be doing the right thing, but doing things right! Some may even consider that management.
Citizenship is just being part of the team. We are all part of various groups, teams, clubs, cliques, as well as countries, cities, and states. Advocating for the entire community takes the focus off ourselves and onto the bigger group. Citizenship might be just as simple as advocating for the team! As a teammate, it could be giving it your all. As a friend, it might be acting as an UPSTANDER and not just a BYSTANDER. A student might behave better in class. Regardless of the group, each of us can act as a part of the team, participating, contributing, and bringing a positive attitude to encourage the betterment of everyone involved.
Finally, Service means making those around you comfortable. Friends, co-workers, parents, siblings, and classmates describe a few of the people we come in contact with throughout our day. Humbly placing others above ourselves, serving their needs and allowing them to pass through doors first are a few simple examples. A hostess, waiter, or concierge will foresee, plan for, and solve a customer’s need before the customer even realizes the deficiency. For instance, a good waitress will never let the tea disappear and have the glass rattle with ice.
Of course, these “soft skills” are only part of our overall purpose as educators. Yes we want to get our scores as high as possible, but not at the cost of these social skills so hard to measure! The Honor Society combines all four indicators and invites many students to apply, but only a portion actually achieve the status and gain induction into the society. Kudos to them.
Thanks for reading,
Tom
