Tuesday morning Circleville Middle School inducted 15 new students into the Jason Schaal Chapter of the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS).
Posthumously named after beloved Circleville City Schools teacher, coach, and friend Jason Schaal, the National Junior Honor Society at Circleville Middle School annually inducts a new class of students on the merits of scholarship, character, service, and leadership each spring.
To earn a NJHS application, eligible students in 7th and 8th grade must have maintained at least a 3.5 GPA and have earned no 'C' letter grades in their core academic classes during the first three 9 weeks.
In order to maintain membership, students are asked to complete 15 hours of community service during the course of their time in the chapter and maintain the same standard of academic excellence as was required of them during their initial induction into the chapter.
To start this year's ceremony, 8th-grade member and chapter president Claire Barthlemas and vice-president Natalie Welsh welcomed students, staff, and guests with an explanation of the induction before the ceremonial lighting of the candles and induction.
In congratulatory remarks, CMS principal Kevin Fox challenged the inductees to continue to challenge themselves by exploring new challenges.
"Think about everything as you go through life in how it relates to maintaining good character," said Fox. "In the future, you are going to learn about 'discipline' versus 'default' in your behavior. Be disciplined with your decisions by paying attention, being purposeful, and skillful in what you do. Don't take the easy route and fall on default behaviors by acting on impulse, being on auto-pilot, and resistant to new challenges or changes. To get to this point in your lives you have to be disciplined."
Congratulations to the 2019 Class of NJHS inductees: Zoe Allen, Mariah Dupler, Alexis Dyke, Alivia Dyke, Reegan Evans, Payton Ford, Mallory Holcomb, Madison Jarrell, Noah Jones, Pheonix McCoy, Sterlin Mullins, Ellie Patrick, William "Slater" Search, Carlos Vazquez, Jr., and Sydney Williams.
The outgoing Class of 2018 NJHS students completed 520 hours of community service as a group with two members, Lillianna Stafford and Erika Kluczynski completing 37.5 and 36 hours of community service respectively (more than double the requirement).
The Jason Schaal Chapter of NJHS at Circleville Middle School is overseen by teachers and advisors Lisa Powers and Wendy Jordan.