February 06, 2025

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Saline, Saline Education

Saline National Honor Society: Building a Better Community One Volunteer at a Time

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Saline National Honor Society: Building a Better Community One Volunteer at a Time

Discover how Saline’s National Honor Society students are making a difference through thousands of service hours, from food drives to community events.

Photo: A. Ornelas (advisor), A. Jiang (president), K. Marria (historian), S. Trier (vice president), G. Roth (treasurer), C. Johansson (secretary) Not pictured K. Reading (secretary) photo by Sue Kelch

Ever wonder how things get done around Saline?  Maybe you have attended one of the many events around town, like the Pumpkin Roll or Christmas at Rentschler Farm.  Or perhaps your child had a tutor, or you had your leaves raked.  Maybe you attended a tech town hall at the Senior Center or a dementia-friendly movie.  It is the volunteers who help make this all happen – and many of those volunteers are student members of the National Honor Society.

Meet the Head Advisor: Zach Ornelas

Meet Zach Ornelas, Head Advisor for Saline’s National Honor Society (NHS) chapter, overseeing the 170 NHS members. 

Zach recounts the events that led to his role as Head Advisor.  “Mr. Elliott was one of my mentor teachers at Saline. I noticed he looked a little stressed and told him I’d be happy to help with the Society.  Soon after, he left, after finding a new job at the University of Michigan, basically doing NHS events.  He said to me, ‘Hey Zach, would you like to take over?’  So I became Head Advisor.”

In this role, Zach organizes meetings, plans events, checks service hours, communicates with local businesses and charities for events, and delegates tasks to officers and committee members.

Becoming a Member of Saline’s NHS

NHS bringing in bags of donations photo by Sue Kelch

Zach describes the member admittance process. “Around 300 students annually from 10th and 11th grades are invited to apply.  They must have an unweighted GPA of 3.7 or higher, secure 3 letters of recommendation, and complete an application listing service and extracurricular activities they have participated in during their high school years. Next, a team of teachers across different grades and subject areas review the applications for approval or denial.”

Every spring, there is an induction ceremony for incoming members and a send-off banquet for outgoing seniors. NHS members are eligible to apply for scholarships and receive service awards from the state.

Volunteering Across the Community

Once accepted, members are expected to accrue a certain amount of volunteer contact/service hours to maintain membership.  When asked to list the NHS volunteer activities, Zach exclaims, “There are too many to list in one article! We rack up THOUSANDS of service hours each year. To name a few of our key service activities, they include volunteering at Rec Center events, shoveling snow for Senior Center members, helping with the Craft Shows, raking leaves for the elderly, staffing the Dementia Friendly Saline screenings at Emagine, providing free tutoring to any Saline community student who makes a request, and running the most productive high school blood drives in Michigan (we won an award last year for this!).  And we constantly search for new opportunities to connect students with service opportunities throughout the community.”

Checking for expiration dates photo by Sue Kelch

Voices of NHS Members

After speaking with Zach, I contacted Alice (Weiran) Jiang, President of Saline’s NHS chapter.  As President, her responsibilities include giving speeches at events, leading full chapter meetings, and working closely with other officers, advisors, and committee chairs.

Alice speaks of her favorite activities with the NHS.  “My favorite part of volunteering is connecting with so many people outside of school and getting a sense of fulfillment from giving back to our community.  Some of my favorite activities are helping out with the Saline Fair, raking leaves, and having Tech Town Halls at the Saline Area Senior Center.” 

Other officers also responded about their involvement with the NHS.  Sienna Trier, Vice President, joined because she is “deeply passionate about helping others.  Volunteering is a chance to expand my perspective while gaining deeper insights into myself as well.  I love meeting new people.”  Katelynn Reading, Secretary, “likes to volunteer and give back to my community. I have also built many friendships along the way for which I am super grateful.  My favorite part of volunteering is being able to see the positive impacts our efforts make on the community firsthand.”

NHS sorting at Social Services photo by Sue Kelch

Other members had a chance to comment on their favorite activities. Charlotte Kreucher enjoys the Saline Rec Center events, including Halloween Hullabaloo and Springfest. Sarah Marcinkiewicz likes tutoring, helping at a dementia-friendly movie, and volunteering at Woodland Meadows pancake night and the Saline Fair.” 

Anya Lanker says her favorite activities are the “hunger packing events because you get to know other people who are volunteering while preparing a meal that will help people around the world.”  Ian Geat enjoys “supervising children at the Halloween Festival, donating blood, checking in guests to Rentschler Farms, and setting up events at the Rec Center.“ Ian also appreciates “the ability to gain experience working in conditions not normally achievable in a school setting without the time commitment of full job.”

Shyla Smith comments, “Through the cross country, I have done Heritage Helpers, where we run with the 4th and 5th graders at Heritage. I have also helped set up for the Quilting Seasons fundraiser over the summer.” 

Others commented on how they enjoy Knots for Mott’s, Christmas at Rentschler Farm, donating winter hats/gloves, and volunteering at the Hope Clinic.  There is truly no shortage of activities that the students participate in.

The Annual Food Drive: A Community Cornerstone

NHS sorting at SASS photo by Sue Kelch

But the biggest event the NHS organizes is their January annual food drive, which they coordinate with Saline Area Social Services (SASS).

I asked Glenna Rehder, Chief Operating Officer at SASS, about the food drive, and she outlined the whole process.  “NHS students drop bags off to Saline neighborhoods along with instructions of what to donate.  The next week they pick the bags up and bring it to SASS to sort.  Food goes into the warehouse, then from the warehouse it gets put into the pantry.  The pantry area is where the clients shop and come in whatever day works best for them once a week.”

Jamail Aikens, Director of SASS, states that this is SASS’s biggest food drive.  “We look forward to this each year.  We get several thousand pounds of food from the event. At least 10-15% of our food comes from just this one day. NHS has been contributing to the SASS pantry for 20 plus years now. It’s a good opportunity for the kids to come in and volunteer and for the folks in the community to contribute.”

Making a Difference: The NHS Legacy

NHS sorting at Social Services photo by Sue Kelch

It’s been my pleasure to highlight how wonderful it is seeing our young adults – our future –  make positive contributions to our community.  But Zach says it best, summarizing the influence of the NHS experience this way.  “In my classroom, I get to see kids work on their reading and writing skills, which is nice.  But in NHS I get to see kids work on real life skills such as helping others and being reliable, which are far more important than understanding The Great Gatsby! I have seen kids truly make a difference in the community and feel what it is like to be a difference maker. I hope I’m helping these students learn how to go and make the world a better place.” 

To donate items to the Saline Area Social Services, visit their website at www.salinesocialservice.com/contact/ or call them at 734.429.4570. 

For information on the National Honor Society, visit www.nationalhonorsociety.org.

For inquiries on the National Honor Society, go to www.salineschools.org/district-resources/lets-talk/