By JESSALYN KIRCHHOFF
The Fort Hays Honor Society is a student-led organization of high-achieving students and while there is a GPA requirement for admission, grades aren’t the only thing the club focuses on.
Carson Pierce, current president of the honor society, said the group is about growing students in multiple facets.
“The goal of the honor society is to provide support, opportunity and recognition for accomplished students,” he said. “We not only work toward enhancing our students’ under-graduate and graduate experience, but we also seek to facilitate active change on-campus and in the community through events, projects and meetings.”
Luz Gomez, vice president of the group, said the society isn’t just about its students’ academic endeavors.
“Fort Hays Honors Society is more than just academics,” Gomez said. “While that is always at the forefront, there is so much more to an academic achieving student and that is the service that they can provide to not just the university, but also the community.
“Our club relies heavily on supporting each other through networking and leadership opportunities. We also have a strong focal point on what we can do for others. A couple of the events that center around individuals outside of the society are the Fischli’s Excellence in Higher Education Banquet or FEHEB and Disability Awareness Week or DAW.”
The Fischli’s Excellence in Higher Education Banquet is an event FHHS hosts in which members of the club invite a professor or advisor who has made an impact on their time at Fort Hays State University. The banquet is used to recognize professors that go above and beyond for their students.
Shane Schartz, previous FEHEB nominee and current FHHS faculty advisor, said the event is a prestigious honor.
“Quite the honor,” he said. “An award given to you by one of your past students just means more. It hints at the assumption that you’re doing something right.”
Each year, FHHS puts on Disability Awareness Week the last week of March. DAW is a week-long series of different daily events aimed at helping end the stigma around disabilities. The week has centrally focused days on physical, mental and developmental disabilities. This year, DAW will be March 28 through April 1. There will be more details and a schedule of events in a future TMN article.
Though FHHS includes everyone when extending its helping hands, there are certain requirements a student must meet in order to be a member. Pierce described the initiation process as well as what new members can expect.
“We require a 3.8 GPA to be invited to join the honor society,” Pierce said. “You are contacted through email if you meet this requirement. After you join the organization, you have to maintain a 3.6 GPA. We also require a certain amount of engagement from our members which can be fulfilled by attending meetings and our events. We also have a one-time payment for new members of $20 which goes toward an FHHS shirt, a membership pin and a graduation cord when you graduate. Our last requirement is joining a committee. We have four different committees that each work toward separate objectives for our organization: Academic, Community Service, Fiscal and Outreach, each play an important role.”
Pierce said there are differences between the Fort Hays Honor Society and the Fort Hays State University Honors College.
“I am involved in both Honor Society and the Honors College,” Pierce said. “The main difference for me is that the honor college focuses on supporting students with upper-level classes and pushing an academic threshold while the honor society works toward supporting members and also facilitating change with its events and projects we have, academic speakers, banquets and other community service projects. FHHS is also a student-led organization which means that our executive team and members run the entire show with the help from our faculty advisor, Dr. Shane Schartz.”
For more information, contact FHHS at fhhs.fhsu@gmail.com or find them on TigerLink at https://tigerlink.fhsu.edu/organization/fhhs.