 National Honor Society advisers Dawn Burton and Judy Dopp
explained Tuesday afternoon that the donation had come as quite a
surprise. Dopp said that St. Gobain had contacted the NHS, saying
they knew that the society does a lot of good work in the community
and the company wanted to help them in their efforts with a monetary
donation.The NHS does do a lot in the community. Each year the
kids participate in various community events such as the annual
Relay For Life, the Community Health Fair at the park district, the
park district's Easter egg hunt, and this year the Middletown 5K put
on by New Holland-Middletown Community Supports Education.
Dopp said there were no stipulations as to what project the
students put the money into, so they met and made a decision to
throw a social event for the junior high students who will
eventually attend Lincoln High School. The event Saturday afternoon
will run from 2 to 4 and is open to students in grades six through
eight from Carroll Catholic, Chester-East Lincoln, Lincoln Junior
High, West-Lincoln Broadwell and Zion Lutheran schools.
NHS student president Maggie Cusey said the group wanted to do
some kind of outreach for the young people who would one day be a
part of NHS. The students wanted to raise awareness of the National
Honor Society and at the same time do something that's fun. Cusey
said they considered a few options, including paintball and other
events, but in the end they chose laser tag.
The laser tag games will be provided by George and Cindy Backstein
of the Springfield area. Cusey said they are the only ones in the
area who offer the games and that the games are safe and a lot of
fun for the kids.
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The money received from St. Gobain went to pay for the games to
be brought to Lincoln, and covers the cost of the space rental at
the Lincoln Park District. Dopp added that the park district also
helped out a bunch by giving the NHS the use of their indoor play
space at a greatly reduced price.
There is still a fee to play, students who participate in tag
will be charged $4 for the first game and $2 for each
additional game.
In addition to the laser tag, the afternoon event will include
volleyball, a free throw contest, a bracelet-making class and of
course food. Daniel Bacon of the NHS is in charge of the food
committee and said there will be pizza, rice crispy treats, popcorn,
cookies and water. Items will be sold at $1 each.
This year the National Honor Society is boasting 64 members.
According to Dopp, this is more than double what it has been in past
years. To be a member of the NHS, a student has to qualify. Students
are eligible only in their junior and senior years and must excel
academically. In addition, they must display that they are
well-rounded students of outstanding character with a variety of
interests and abilities, and they have to commit to doing community
service work during their NHS career, as decided upon by the full
group. Students who meet the requirements are invited to apply to
the society. Their acceptance is determined by a faculty council who
considers all their attributes before making them a part of the
group.
[By NILA SMITH] |
