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Inside Honors Societies By Kathleen Xie

Photo courtesy of School of Medicine & Health Sciences

Honors Societies have been a part of Pinewood for many, many years. They recognize stellar upperclassmen in the subjects of English, Spanish, French, science, and math, but what exactly do students in these honors societies do?

President of the French Honors Society Lynsie Corfield said that the French Honors Society is a group of French students who are enthusiastic about the language and culture. Each year, the goal for the students is to go to French activities outside of school.

“In previous years, it’s been things like a French arts and wine festival, a French movie, a French play, or volunteering somewhere,” Corfield said. “There’s the Jamboree every year and the French Honors always has a booth there that you volunteer at.”

Corfield said that her favorite part is going to meetings with people who are passionate about French culture.

The Spanish Honors Society serves a similar purpose, recognizing outstanding Spanish students while spreading the awareness of the culture through volunteering.

“[In February, the Spanish Honors Society sold] Pulseras for a nonprofit organization, and all the proceeds go to benefit communities and artisans in Central America,” Spanish Honors Society advisor Olivia Bradley said. “Also, for the Jamboree, we sold agua frescas.”

At the end of the year, Bradley said that the Spanish Honors Society has a celebration with Latino food and an activity. Once, they even brought in a pinata.

The English Honors Society, while also implemented to recognize excellence in English students, carries out slightly different activities.

English Honors Society advisor David Wells said that their work involves helping teachers correct papers and helping with tasks in English classrooms.

“We get to do behind-the-scenes work for the teachers,” English Honors Society member Emily Takara said.

English Honors Society member Sania Choudhary said that she especially loved the time where she got to work with the 7th graders in English Teacher Cheryl Zepp’s class in a peer-editing workshop because the students were really receptive. Choudhary also thinks it’s fun reading and giving feedback on student’s papers and tests.

“When we were grading [Sabrina] Strand’s tests, it was really funny because I remember taking that exact same test and it was fun to see other people’s responses to it,” Choudhary said.

All of these students expressed that the honors societies not only acknowledge their hard work and dedication through the years, but also give them new opportunities to further explore their interest in the subject.

“It definitely encourages engagement beyond the classroom,” Takara said.