The National Junior Honor Society chapter of Ronald W. Reagan Middle School is a duly chartered and affiliated chapter of this prestigious national organization. Membership is open to those students who meet the required standards in five areas of evaluation: scholarship, service, leadership, character, and citizenship. Students are selected for membership by majority vote of a five-member principal-appointed faculty council, which bestows this honor upon qualified students on behalf of the faculty of our school each April.
Students in grade 7 are eligible for membership. For the scholarship criterion, a student must have a cumulative average of 92 out of 100 points. This average is calculated with an extra 10 points of weight given for each advanced class taken. Each spring, those students who meet this criterion are invited to complete a Candidate Form that provides the faculty council with information regarding the candidate’s leadership and service.
To attain membership, candidates should be able to meet the following criteria. They should be able to list at least one leadership position in Elementary or Middle School. Candidates are required to show completion of at least 10 community service hours across their 6th and 7th grade years. Participation in at least one extracurricular activity both inside and outside of school is recommended for membership, and candidates should have received at least one award in Elementary and Middle School. While failure to meet these criteria does not automatically disqualify a candidate from eligibility, extra discussion by the faculty council will be required for membership. All candidates are required to obtain two letters of recommendation, one of which must be from a teacher. The other letter must be from an adult that is not a family member. Any candidates who fail to provide the required recommendation letters will be disqualified from membership.
To evaluate a candidate’s character, the faculty council uses two forms of input. First, school disciplinary records are reviewed. Students who receive an office referral or in school suspension during a calendar school year are considered ineligible for membership. Second, members of the faculty are solicited for input regarding their professional reflections on a candidate’s service activities, character, and leadership. Faculty are asked to rate candidates on a four-point scale from Poor to Outstanding. Candidates are then according to their average faculty rating.
Any solicited faculty input and all Candidate Forms are carefully reviewed by the faculty council to determine membership. This information is graded upon a rubric that reflects the categories of information requested. The faculty council begins each evaluation process by reviewing the rubric and setting a score that reflects an individual they believe would be a productive member of the organization. This score must be set by a majority vote. The faculty council will then grade every candidate based on this rubric.
Candidates who meet the agreed upon score will automatically be offered membership provided they do not receive a rating of Poor on any part of the rubric. Any candidate who meets the required score but receives a rating of Poor will be individually discussed and voted upon by the faculty council. Candidates are notified regarding selection or non-selection according to a predetermined schedule.
Following notification, a formal induction ceremony is held at the school to recognize all the newly selected members. Once inducted, new members are required to maintain the same level of performance (or better) in all four criteria that led to their selection.
