Piney Branch Elementary School became the first Prince William County School to start a chapter of the National Elementary Honor Society (NEHS), a service based honors program, when they inducted 36 fifth grade students in January.
“The Piney Branch Elementary School chapter of the National Elementary Honor Society was started by the principal, Janice Herritt. It is to my understanding she was at a principal's meeting over the summer, where several vendors were present with many different programs. Mrs. Herritt, who saw the exciting opportunity for our students, decided to pursue the program. Mrs. Downey, a wonderful ESOL specialist, Mrs. Marshall, an amazing fifth grade teacher, and myself, the counselor, decided to take the challenge on and become advisors to the chapter at Piney Branch,” school guidance counselor and NEHS sponsor Annece Flood said.
To qualify, rising fifth graders should have a cumulative GPA of 3.8 or higher from third grade through fifth grade and exemplify good behavior/conduct.
“Students complete an application to reflect on their experiences and how they relate to our four pillars; responsibility, leadership, scholarship, and service,” Downey said, “Students meet once a month and complete one project every month. As part of membership students are also required to complete some type of service hours. We do some things as a group, like packaging beans and rice for local families at the House of Mercy.”
This school year, the first members of the NEHS were successful in completing many service projects.
“Every month students have completed a service project at school or in the community. In February, at our first meeting, students were responsible for running a book drive to collect gently used and new books for students in neighboring schools in need,” Flood said, “Our students created posters, made announcements during the morning broadcasts and worked diligently to collect from the community. Through their efforts, we were able to collect over 1,000 books.”
While the students participated in events to help the community, like the book drive, writing letters to service men and women through the Forgotten Soldiers Outreach, Inc program, and aiding a performance for the Leaping Leaders Ballet Group at the Georgetown South community center, they also were able to serve their school in support of causes such as bullying prevention.
“In March, students delivered ‘Secret Messages’ to all students at Piney Branch. The messages were positive, encouraging and very supportive. Also, a small group of seven NEHS students wrote, produced, directed and starred in a bully prevention finger puppet show, called "The Oobie Show" which was recorded and then presented to the primary grades,” Flood said.
Even though this was the first year the school had a National Elementary Honor Society, the sponsors believe in the positive impact that these students had and will continue to have for the school and community.
”It was challenging at first, because no one had any experience at the elementary level with the program, however once we got started it came together wonderfully,” Flood said, ”Overall, I think our students gained a greater sense of responsibility, care, compassion and empathy through the various experiences in the program, which will help them to understand how much power they have to make a difference in the community and the world.”
The fifth grade inductees for the 2015-2016 school year at Piney Branch will continue to help the school and community through their service as part of NEHS membership.
“The students who will be inducted this week have a lot to live up to, but we hope to exceed our work next year and really make a big impact on our community and our school,” Downey said.
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