CM Inducts New Members into the National Honor Society

Last week, CM’s Monsignor Donahue chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS) inducted 44 juniors and seniors who have demonstrated the NHS’s four pillars of leadership, scholarship, character, and service.
West Roxbury, Mass.-- As a small, shy freshman on the varsity hockey team, Chris Rooney remembers the nervousness that led him to keep quiet in the locker room. Harry Morrill, a senior and captain on that team, reached out to Chris, offered his advice, and helped Chris feel a part of the team. Harry’s simple gesture stuck with Chris. This became a pivotal moment in Chris’ own leadership development. Now a senior, Chris is the captain of the varsity hockey team and draws on Harry for inspiration.

“As the years went, I used [my experience with Harry] and applied it to every underclassmen on the team knowing what the impact of a leader like Harry could do for someone,” Chris said as he reflected on leadership at last week’s National Honor Society induction ceremony.

CM’s Monsignor Donahue chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS) inducted 44 juniors and seniors who have demonstrated the NHS’s four pillars of leadership, scholarship, character, and service.

In her opening remarks, Ms. Caitlin Corsano, the NHS moderator and a member of the English Department, referenced Blessed Edmund Rice, the founder of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, who once compared each Christian Brother to an “open letter.She referenced that same analogy when describing the NHS inductees.

“When a young man signs up for a challenging AP course, hoping to explore new areas of knowledge – he becomes a letter of scholarship. When he leads the first CM Kairos retreat, guiding his peers through reflection and growth – he becomes a letter of leadership. He becomes a letter of character every single time he steps foot on the field, or on the stage, or in our chapel, and acts with poise and class. He becomes a letter of service when he tutors at the CM Middle School, when he visits Peru on a BERSI trip, or when he sorts donations at the Greater Boston Food Bank,” said Ms. Corsano.

In addition to Chris, fellow senior Michael McCarthy spoke on the idea of scholarship while juniors James O’Donovan and Danny Sheehan offered reflections on service and character, respectively. The NHS officers selected each speaker for the way they embody the trait on which he spoke.

The student speakers discussed formative experiences in their lives and on CM’s campus that best formed their understanding of the aforementioned pillars. Collectively, they discussed the mentorship of teachers, the profound impact of retreats and the BERSI program, and the importance of learning from their everyday experiences. While their talks began as reflections, each speaker ended with words of advice and encouragement as they exhorted their fellow members to live out each of the four pillars in their daily lives.

To be inducted into the National Honor Society, students must first meet a grade point average qualification. Qualified students then apply for membership into the National Honor Society by submitting a written application which outlines a demonstrated commitment to the four pillars of the NHS. A committee of faculty members reviews the applications and selects students to be admitted. An induction ceremony is held each March.

Following the recognition of new members into the NHS, Dr. Laura Connor, a member of CM’s World Language Department, offered the keynote address as the evening’s guest speaker.

“Learning language for me was akin to magic. In high school a guidance counselor once said to me, ‘You’ll have a Ph.D. in languages some day,’” said Dr. Connor.

Dr. Connor shared her personal journey of scholarship. She discussed how her friends growing up and a French class that she took during her freshman year of high school helped here realize her “affinity and talent for language.”

She also shared her discovery of art history in college and the joy she experienced in finding the intersection between it and language.Her closing remarks offered words of wisdom for the new members to guide their own scholarship throughout the rest of high school and into college.

In addition to their NHS induction, some juniors and seniors were inducted concurrently into the World Languages honor societies. These included the Société Honoraire de Français, Linguae Latinae Societas Honoris, and the Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica Carlos Rodríguez Santiago Chapter.A cohort of students also entered into the Rho Kappa National Honor Society for Social Studies.  
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Catholic Memorial, the Christian Brothers School of Boston, prepares boys for college, manhood and a world full of unknown challenges, ambiguity and complex problems and the importance of relationships.