Maintaining the Pillars by Jaidyn

Maintaining the Pillars by Jaidyn - December 2019 Scholarship Essay

At the end of my sophomore year, I received a letter from my school informing me that I had qualified to apply for National Honors Society. I wasn’t exactly sure what National Honors Society was all about, other than the fact that it was indeed an honor. I had worked hard throughout my years in school and it felt so rewarding to know that much of my effort was paying off. Once I applied and received my acceptance letter, I soon began learning all about the world of NHS and how it would impact the rest of my high school career, and for that matter, the rest of my life.
In NHS, there are four pillars that you base your actions on. Scholarship, service, character, and leadership. Each one of these pillars has individually played a large role in shaping me into who I am. By basing my actions and my outlook on these different perspectives, I wholeheartedly believe that I’ve become a more positive and overall better person. I think the commitment that students put into NHS rewards each person differently, everyone comes out of this society changed in their own individual ways. Since the group makes up something so large, it’s much easier to understand when you look deeper into the individual person’s role and how the group shapes them.
Scholarship begins in a student’s mind and stops only as short as their imagination. The learning in this pillar goes far outside of the classroom, where you are not defined by test scores or your grade point average. Being able to look at a situation and see the positivity is one way that I’ve been impacted by the scholarship pillar. This is a newfound trait that I deeply admire about myself.
One main requirement of maintaining your place in the society is based on community service, which shows the importance of the pillar. Completing service hours not only feels very satisfying but also as if your actions have helped the world in some way. Whether your service impact is small or large, every step towards change must start somewhere.
Leadership is an extremely important aspect both in this group and in my life. This group is actually what I believe inspired me to take risks and become a leader. I discovered that leadership comes from vulnerability. When I decided to step out and try to play a larger role, I found myself scared but it was how all of my progress was made.
Lastly, my personal favorite pillar is character. I wholeheartedly believe that although all of the pillars impact my daily life, this one has continued to impact my life, and it has impacted the way I view the other pillars. You can’t exactly look at a person and measure their character, but you can see how it impacts their actions and the way they go about their life. In my freshman year, a teacher said to my class “your character is what you do when nobody else is looking” and that advice has stuck by my side since that day.
Not only does National Honors Society teach valuable lessons to those in the group, but it also teaches us that these are special lifelong skills. There are many reasons why it is an honor to be accepted into this group. National Honors Society has taught me so much about myself and multiple lessons for my future. I try to maintain these four pillars every day. I'm so happy that I am able to say that this group has been so impactful for me.