National Language Honor Society inducted new members on Tuesday, October 17th. In order to be inducted students have to meet certain standards. They also have to attend events relating to their language. Spanish, French, German, and Latin teachers all nominate students.

Nominations are given based on a student’s past and current grades in that language. National Language Honor Society students have to maintain a 90% in the class and a 3.25 GPA overall. Students also have to be in their third year of their language and be at least a sophomore.

135 students were inducted into the National Language Honor Society.On Tuesday, 78 students were inducted into the Sociedad Honoraria Hisápnica, 38 students were inducted into the Société Honoraire De Français, 8 students were inducted into The National Honor Society of German, and 10 students were inducted into the NJCL Latin Honor Society.

Students also need to serve six hours of community service, related to the language they were inducted for. Inductees also have to pay a $10 due for membership activation, and another $5 due each additional year to maintain membership.

Each language has it’s own honor society and sets up its own events, but many events are also done including all of the Honor Societies. Ms. Fogelson, who teaches Spanish and French, and is a big part of the Spanish Honor Society, said, “With Spanish it is a lot easier because of our surrounding community, there are opportunities at some of the local elementary schools where they ask for volunteers, because a lot of the population there are spanish speakers.” Spanish Honor Society has an volunteer coordinator who sets up volunteer opportunities for students.

Spanish Honor Society is also setting up tutoring during third block lunch shifts where the honor society students will be the tutors. Students who are taking Spanish can sign up for help and come during this time to receive that help. They are also planning on expanding this to other subjects to help the ELL students in subjects like history, science, or math.

The Spanish Honor Society also plans on going to several social events like going to Los Toltecos one of the nights where they have the mariachi band, see the new Disney movie Coco, go to a museum with culturally relevant artwork, and go to the GALA Theatre where Spanish language productions are performed.

The French Honor Society has volunteer opportunities in helping teachers with French related opportunities. “We had a bunch of students last night [October 30th] help us with concessions to earn money for the exchange trip that we are having, [which is] students coming in February from France,” Ms. McDermott said. Students also help set up and clean up for the Foreign Language Banquet.  

The National Honor Society of German doesn’t have quite as many volunteer opportunities. Students can help the German teacher, Ms. Edgington, in the classroom promoting German, and work with the German program. “We [The German Honor Society] wanted to do some tutoring as well, we just haven’t had that much of a need, but we would like to connect through Seneca [Ridge Middle School] to do some tutoring,” said Ms. Edgington.

The Latin Honor Society or NJCL Latin Honor Society also has several volunteer opportunities in and outside of Dominion. Ms. Campbell, the Latin teacher said, “[The Latin Honor Society works] Concession stands, holiday gift wrapping, set-up and take-down at Fall Induction and the Spring Banquet, recruitment events at Seneca Ridge, and individual tasks which can be arranged with Ms. Campbell.”

All language honor society students are also required to attend certain events throughout the school year. After they are inducted they have to plan and participate in National Foreign Language Week and do the same in the World Languages and Cultures Departments banquet.

During the National Foreign Language Week, each language sets up events like coming up with a word of the day to display on the announcements. For the banquet, “Students bring in a dish which they have prepared or purchased for the language that they are studying or their own heritage language. It’s a big potluck dinner, and some students might perform something in their language, a song, a dance, or recite a poem,” said Ms. Fogelson.

Other events in that week include a word of the day, trivia contests, door decorating, cooking, scavenger hunts, and club competitions between honor societies. French also puts together a breakfast one morning where all students can come in and eat.

Things are changing with the foreign language banquet this year, as it is being transformed into more of a Global Showcase. The Global Showcase will not be replacing the Foreign Language Week or even the banquet, as it will be in May and the Foreign Language Week and banquet will be in March.

While things are not set in stone, many ideas are being thrown around including a photo contest with the students from the foreign language trips. “We are trying to provide a place for students to share with the community what they did and what they have learned and what they have gotten out of the exchange,” Ms. Edgington said.

The Global showcase also opens opportunities for the Language Honor Societies and Global Ambassadors to work together. This is a goal for the Honor Societies because, “We have been separate groups, having similar goals and missions,” Ms. Edgington said.

The National Language Honor Society at Dominion also hopes to be able to give out scholarships to the polyglots at Dominion from the fundraisers throughout the year. A polyglot is a student at Dominion who is taking two or more languages at Dominion. They were able to give out two scholarships last year and hope to continue this, this year and upcoming years.

The National Honor Society at Dominion goals are to promote high achievement in the language and the study of foreign language, gaining the global perspective, and complete service outside of school hours.