National Honor Society Application Essay

I have been informed that I was not selected to be a member of the National Honor Society. I would like to respectfully disagree with this decision. Being in the National Honor Society means a lot to me, and I would first like to thank you for considering me as an applicant and for also taking this time to listen to my defense.
The main problem with my application was a lack of community service. The bulk of my service hours comes from my position as a CIT at Pilgrim Day Camp, which did not qualify as community service. I would like to emphasize that I was not given any money for my work at the camp. I would define community service as voluntary work intended to help people in a particular area. Being a CIT was completely voluntary, and my work at the camp benefitted the campers and their parents. By being a role model for young children, I positively impacted their lives and guided them through camp activities. Over the course of 120 hours, I helped the children during swim lessons, played with them and entertained them, and assisted the counselors in making the day run smoothly, all for no monetary or personal benefit. I also helped out the parents of the community by keeping their children safe and happy while they went to work.

The Silver Award requires 50 hours of community service. This was not included in my initial application because I had neglected to fill out community service sheets for my work on the project. For my Silver Award, I helped create set pieces for the Middle School theater program to use during their plays. I dedicated my free time to personally building these set pieces that can be painted and reused to enhance the experience of the students participating in the Middle School productions as well as improve the quality of their productions. I dedicated more than 50 hours of community service to complete this