The semester has come to a close and with that, officers of the volunteering club MV National Honor Society have made plans to improve next semester and continue what has already been proven effective.

El Estoque: What sorts of events did NHS conduct this semester and what will it do next semester?

Matthew Li: They were all community service but they all had different aspects, whether they were like nature cleanups or helping out a fundraiser for another organization. They were pretty successful and had a lot of members attending. For next semester, we’re planning to have multiple Christmas themed events; we’re trying to organize events like a second hand toy store for homeless and lesser privileged children and we’re trying to set that up so there will be a lot of events over the break. Other than that, approximately 60% of our members have remained active this semester which is a better rate then we have had previous years and I think this is because of the mass amounts of opportunities of events for the members this year.

EE: How has NHS improved this semester?

ML: This semester we wanted to improve mainly to have the opportunities for our members to remain active. I think for most service activity clubs that the main critique is that there are not many events for their members and we’ve really tried to focus on that this year and we’ve done a good job.

EE: How do you find and organize events?

ML: So we have to find the events individually or we’ll get contacted by an organization, which is kind of what is happening with the homeless toy store. So basically, each of our officers is required to find a number of events each semester and we primarily try to do group events, approximately 10-15 members per event. That way, there is more of a sense of community in the club when you’re volunteering with a bigger group each time.

EE: How was NHS in the past and what is the plan for the future?

ML: NHS’s reputation in the past few years has kind of gone downhill, to be honest. This year and next semester, we’re really trying to revamp our reputation. We’ll be trying to fundraise more money because last year there was a problem with having enough money to buy the graduating seniors’ stoles. And I think this year, we’ll be able to supply each member with a stole. That’s important because it’s a symbolic representation for seniors to receive something for their commitment.

Clubs are an essential part of how students discover more interests and interact with other who like the same activities or topics as them. For more information on Monta Vista NHS, check out their website.