(Front Row) NHS advisor Mike Kaylor, Assistant Head of School Christie Grabis, Yaxin (Angelina) Lin ’23, Julia Reed ’23, Ava Melvin ’23, Zacharia Mozher ’23, Julia McClary ’23, Joshua Campbell ’22, Alanna Grace ’23, Katelyn Campbell ’23, Olivia Amygdalos ’23, Julia Buchanan ’23, Head of School John Lewis, Krista Pettit. (Second row) Nick Abell ’23, Sarah (Eli) Ireland ’23, Aidan Ireland ’22, Nora FauntLeRoy ’22, Isabelle Requena ’23, Natalie Henry ’23, Elizabeth (Lane) Parkhurst ’23, Zachary Adams ’23, Andrew Rich ’23. (Third Row) Adam Papadopoulos ’22, Paige Kroncke ’23, Madilyn Algier ’23, John Brady ’22, Kelby Booth ’23, McKinsey Brown ’23, Anastasia Clair ’22. (Fourth Row) Damian Rene ’23, Oliver White ’23, Paget Kellogg ’23, Mekonnen Sahle-Selassie ’23, Jiacheng (Jason) Ye ’23, Jian (Daniel) Dang ’22, Yining Wei ’23, and Curtis Andrew Baughman, III ’22.

The Gunston School is pleased to welcome 35 students to the National Honor Society. Joined by their families, students assembled in Gunston’s Field House for an in-person ceremony. This year’s guest speaker was Krista Pettit, P ’17 ’20, founder and current executive director of Haven Ministries, a nonprofit organization in Queen Anne’s County that operates a homeless shelter, food pantries, resource center, thrift store, warehouse, street outreach program, and art program.

“The Power of One starts with one person, identifying one need, and doing the one thing they can to address it,” Pettit said, as she recalled how Haven Ministries was formed. 

This year’s newly selected members include Nicholas Abell, Zachary Adams, Madilyn Algier, Olivia Amygdalos, Curtis Andrew Baughman, III, Kelby Booth, John Brady, McKinsey Brown, Julia Buchanan, Joshua Campbell, Katelyn Campbell, Anastasia Clair, Sadie Cloud, Jian Dang, Nora FauntLeRoy, Alanna Grace, Natalie Henry, Aidan Ireland, Eli Ireland, Paget Kellogg, Paige Kroncke, YaXin Lin, Julia McClary, Ava Melvin, Zacharia Mozher, Adam Papadopoulos, Elizabeth Parkhurst, Julia Reed, Damian Rene, Isabelle Requena, Andrew Rich, Mekonnen Sahle-Selassie, Yining Wei, Oliver White, and Jiacheng Ye.

Each fall, membership to NHS is offered to those students who meet the required standards put forth by the national office in four areas of evaluation: scholarship, leadership, service, and character. For the scholarship criterion, a student must have a cumulative grade point average of 88 (B+) or higher. 

Students who meet this criterion are invited to submit a comprehensive resume that outlines their activities, achievements, leadership, and service. To evaluate a candidate on the national criterion of character, a student’s school records are reviewed, and each candidate selects four members of the faculty to provide their professional reflections on the candidate’s citizenship, leadership, activities, and personal conduct.