Allison Driessen and Kyle Paulson plan to make dozens of major changes to Rosemount High School’s National Honors Society in the next two years. 

Allison Driessen and Kyle Paulson are the new advisers for NHS for the school year 2019-2020, taking the place of Jodi Rosauer and Heather Nyseth. They both decided to make major changes to the school’s most prestigious club when Driessen and Paulson learned that some members of NHS were using the title as a way to ‘get ahead’ in college and to look better in applications. 

One of the main changes is in the way that students will be admitted into the society. Previously, students needed a 3.7 GPA and an essay to showcase the student’s use of the four NHS pillars, scholarship, leadership, community service, and character. Now, students will need only a 3.5 GPA and have to be able to highlight the pillars much more significantly than last year.

In response to why the changes in NHS were being made Driessen states that, “We recognize that we were falling short of [the other school’s societies] standards and expectations. We felt they would improve the NHS community and help restore the society to its prestigious nature.” The goal of this new criteria is to try and bring in students who may excel in school, but conveying that that’s not the most important thing. They want to focus more on the things that students do to help the community and benefit others instead of themselves. 

The small NHS committees are also facing change. Driessen says that, “The committees didn’t really work for us this past trimester, so we’re going to create a new type of group so that everything will flow smoother and people will get more out of it.” These new groups will be led by a senior and will give juniors an opportunity to choose which group they want to be in.

The changes that are being made to NHS are going to affect the classes of 2021 and 2022, as they will be the first group to have these new changes in place. “The type of people in NHS will be affected, but the size will most likely stay the same.” Huntley states. The changes are being met with some resistance, as expected, but both Driessen and Huntley have seen good responses overall with the reaction to the new changes. 

Driessen reveals, “I’ve been inspired, seeing all of the amazing things that these students do, has been inspiring to me.” She loves the idea of making this society the best that it can be and is very excited to continue advising NHS for years to come.