As the school year enters its second month in the age of COVID-19, with mask-wearing, social distancing, and hand sanitizing becoming “normal,” some student activities are slowly returning.

The De La Salle Collegiate National Honor Society recently held elections for its 2020-2021 officers, utilizing technology for both candidate speeches and for voting. 

The new officers include seniors Quinn McIntyre (President), Michael Wisniewski (Vice President), Vincent Motowski (Vice President), Luke Boldman (Secretary), Suheum Heo (Treasurer), and Abishek Nirmal Kumar (Junior Alternate). As the junior alternate, Kumar will automatically be an officer for 2021-2022.

Mrs. Jeana Page, the NHS moderator, said that candidates used “Flipgrid,” a simple online educational technology that enabled students to upload their campaign speech videos. Then the NHS members were able to vote, and use a Google form for voting.

“There are too many members in the National Honor Society this year for us to meet and view the speeches together in person,” Page said. “Flipgrid worked flawlessly for the candidates. The officers and I plan to keep using the program to send announcements out to the group as well.” 

This week, Page and the officers are planning for the upcoming induction ceremonies. Split into two separate nights, each inductee will be allowed two guests. Officers will be speaking on what the four pillars of NHS - character, scholarship, leadership, and service) mean to them. Juniors are scheduled for Tuesday, October 13; seniors are scheduled for Tuesday, October 20. 

Despite the challenges of COVID-19 and the pandemic, the officers are working to come up with new ways to serve their communities. 

“I think they have an opportunity to serve their community in ways they haven’t considered in the past,” Page said. “NHS members have tutored during power hour in the past, but right now we don’t have that. Students are helping teachers by assisting students during class time.”