The Highland Falls Intermediate School’s auditorium was filled with proud students and their family members last Wednesday, as the school’s annual induction of some sixth, seventh and eighth graders into the National Junior Honor Society took place.
The ceremony was led by NJHS President Grace O’Connell, an eighth grader, and teacher Nadia DeLaurentis, the advisor for the club. HFIS Principal Yashira Maldonado welcomed the many guests to the ceremony, and applauded the students on their accomplishments.
Five existing members of the school’s NJHS chapter spoke about the five pillars of the society — scholarship (Abigail Kreh), service (Anna Wiery), leadership (Yasmin Morocho), citizenship (Madelyn Bourne) and character (Georgios Fatsis).
The keynote speaker at the event was the Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery Central School District’s Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Technology Michael McElduff. He was not speaking to an unfamiliar group of students — he’s served as building principal (both FMES and HFIS) to many of the students for the past five years.
“I am honored to have been asked to speak tonight,” he said. “I am in awe every year with the amount of hard work, dedication and countless hours each of our inductees have put in to be inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed and again I am so excited to share this night with all of you.”
McElduff spoke about the five pillars of the NJHS, but said he believes while the first four are easy to demonstrate proficiency in, it’s the fifth that he believes is most important.
“These four pillars are all very important, but in my opinion none of them can be accomplished without the fifth pillar, which is character,” he said. “I want to read the NJHS definition of character for everyone. Character is the force within each individual which distinguishes that person from others. Other key words or phrases from the full definition are: individuality, self respect, continual growth, constant action, making right choices, self-control, respect and responsibility.”
He continued: “Your character is what defines you, it is what will make you a great leader, citizen, scholar and most importantly a good person. We need good people. We need people with good moral characters and people who aren’t afraid to stand up for what is right and help others.”
The students who were inducted were:
Eighth Graders – Kayla Chen, Rashelly DeLeon, Joselyn Guerra, Erick Guzhnay, Ava Hurtado, Jessica Kamel, Analisse Kirlew, John McSwain, Krista Patel, Alicia Patten, Sophia Ponte and Dayanara Tiaguaro
Seventh Graders – Allison Aguilar, D’Andre Caizaluisa, Luke DiSalvo, Aislinn Fallon, Sophia Lindberg and Dominic Marotta
Sixth Graders – Angelina Armstrong, Chloe Caraballo, Chase Detemple, Lucas Isakson, Olivia Jersey, Nathanael Kreh, Marvin Marroquin-Maldonado, Yankilvio Molina, Giovanni Montellese and Tristan Wolf.
