National Honor Society – Part 1

During the first few years at EHHS, National Honor Society induction ceremonies were conducted during the second week in May, just before final exams and the end of the school year. For those who achieved high academic marks it was a time of some anxiety because not all those who had achieved the basic 3.5 GPA were invited to join NHS.
If you note the 4 letters in the pin, you see a C, S, L, and another S. The letters stood for the 4 characteristics upon which the NHS was founded; Character, Service, Leadership, and Scholarship.
A review of 1961 and 1962 NHS induction programs reveals what wasn’t obvious almost 50-years ago. Membership was limited to about 40 Seniors and 20 Juniors each year. About 20 Juniors and 20 Sophomores were inducted each Spring to replace the 40 graduating Seniors, leaving a standing membership of about 60 for the following year, 40 Seniors and 20 Juniors (prox).
The 1960-61 NHS membership consisted of only 23 Seniors—the school was very new then. This 1961 class was relatively small, about 224, compared to subsequent classes of about 289 (1962), 315 (1963), 350 in 1964 (the first official year of the baby boomers) and about 410 in 1965. (Note--the first EHHS Class of 1960 numbered about 145).
On May 10, 1961, the Highlander NHS chapter inducted 6 graduating Seniors, 41 Juniors, and 18 Sophomores.

The next year, on May 11, 1962, following the practice first established in 1961, the Highlander NHS chapter inducted 6 graduating Seniors, 21 Juniors, and 19 Sophomores.The lists accompanying this posting are taken from the original NHS induction programs. Another thing that was not obvious at the time was that the girls out numbered the boys by huge margins: 1960/61 – 67% girls; 1961/62 – 75% girls; 1962/63 - 56% girls.
Maybe the selection method was flawed but it did seem that the faculty committee was trying to even the numbers by 1963. On the other hand in the accompanying lists are a couple of lawyers, a judge, a former Ft. Worth mayor, a United States Congresswoman, and the subject of a Life Magazine cover, each of them former EHHS girls. There are also several doctors, professors, teachers, engineers, an artist, several very successful business people, and the author of the EHHS alma mater in these lists.

Adios