National Honor Society is an organization for high school students to recognize achievements both in and outside of academic settings. Their values revolve around four pillars: scholarship, leadership, service and character. At Madison, both juniors and seniors can apply to become a part of the organization, in which they will attend monthly meetings and complete service hours to better their school and local community.
In previous years, all NHS meetings were held in-person after school, but for the 2025-26 school year, NHS changed its meeting format. Juniors and seniors have separate meetings, alternating between the classic in-person format and a new online option.
In a survey sent out to all current NHS members, 45 out of the 70 participants preferred the online meetings.
Both meeting settings have their respective pros and cons. For what survey participants liked about in-person meetings, about half appreciated the hands-on activities, with an honorable mention for the guest speakers, coming in at 31.4%. A couple of participants manually input that they enjoyed in-person meetings because they could interact with other NHS members and friends.
As for virtual meetings, there was a stronger consensus on why survey participants liked them: completion whenever your schedule allows. 90% of survey participants voted that this was one of the reasons they enjoyed the virtual meetings. When trying to organize an event for 418 high school students, it is difficult to find a day which will work with everyone’s schedules.
“I really do prefer the meetings when they are online. This is because I work after school and often stress about getting my shifts covered for the required NHS meetings. When they are asynchronous, they allow me to complete them when I have the free time available,” NHS senior Virginia Torregrossa (’26) said.
48.6% of survey participants liked that the meetings alternate between in person and virtual, with 35.7% indifferent. However, a resounding 72.9% of survey respondents found that this system of alternating between meeting formats makes NHS attendance easier to keep up with.
With so many members, it is near impossible to get everyone in one room at the same time. With the addition of virtual meetings for National Honor Society being successful thus far, and the option for make-up meetings being offered for members unable to attend some of the meetings held in-person, steps are being taken to make NHS accessible to students, even if they have a busy schedule. The act of balancing these efforts while maintaining the National Honor Society community will continue to be perfected in the years to come.
