National Honor Society Members Inducted; Addressed by Pius X Alumnus
The 31st class of National Honor Society members was inducted at Pius X High School on Monday evening, Feb. 15. The convocation ceremony honors the top scholars and leaders of the school for their dedication to and exemplification of the four National Honor Society (NHS) pillars: character, service, leadership, and scholarship.
As the largest student organization at Pius X, more than 300 young adults participate in NHS. “Although all four pillars are important, the main emphasis of the Pius X Chapter is service and leadership,” noted Tom Seib, Pius X Social Studies instructor and NHS sponsor.
Seib made special note of the impressive list of community service and number of hours completed by NHS members. “Our students volunteered at a large variety of organizations, including Matt Talbot Kitchen to Autism Awareness to the Lincoln City Library and the Zoo. They also volunteered at their parishes, at Pius X, City Impact, hospitals, Catholic Social Services, YMCA youth sports, and many more,” said Seib. “In all, our students completed well over 2,000 hours of service in the Lincoln community.”
NHS members also provide outstanding leadership for the Pius X student body. Seib noted that junior and senior NHS members were involved in 26 clubs, 15 sports, and 8 performing groups during the first semester of the school year.
NHS president Anna Stuchlik addressed the crowd of more than 400 students, teachers, administration, parents, and family members. She stated that the four pillars of NHS “shape not only high-achieving students, but also well-rounded individuals. Character is the key and the most important. You can have good grades, but cheat to get them; lead noble causes and do service for all the wrong reasons.”
Anna further explained that character is the tool that pulls the NHS pillars together. Character is “who you are when no one is looking; your moral and ethical quality and your integrity…and you may not always be aware of how your character is affecting others, which is part of why character is so important.”
Anna also encouraged her fellow students to work on building their own good character. “We must develop our character before it can be shared and impact others.”
After the induction of 203 Pius X juniors and seniors into the National Honor Society, the students and guests enjoyed comments from guest speaker Seth Odgaard. A 1993 graduate of Pius X High School, Seth is the director of refugee resettlement in Lincoln for Catholic Social Services. He also creates and markets realistic crucifixes and provides leadership training to companies and non-profit organizations.
“It was a tremendous honor to be invited to come back and address those young men and women in that capacity,” commented Seth. “I love Pius, have always been grateful for my experience there, and was happy to be able to give back a little.”
He opened his presentation with a leadership exercise that included the singing of the Pius X fight song by the entire crowd. Seth also shared the tragic story of two refugees with whom he had worked as an example of why leadership is so important. “We live in a broken and shattered world, and you probably hear often that you are the future. Every single one of you in this room has been given gifts. God gave them to you so that you may use them to serve others.”
Seth noted that students may choose from a wide variety of vocations, “but whatever gifts you have, it is not about your own success and enjoyment. It is about laying them down at the feet of Christ by putting them to use for the good of others.” He also encouraged students to “ask God to open the doors He wants opened” and to lead you to use scholarship, character, and service to mend the world around us.
With too many examples of bad leadership in our world, Seth encouraged students to “commit yourself to a study of leadership throughout your life…Become as good of a leader as you can be, which is precisely what the world needs of you.” He also noted that leadership is about relating to others. “Everyone has the capacity to lead and influence others.”
As he concluded, Seth explained that “your gifts are not about you. God does not care what you do as long as you are seeking to use your gifts to rebuild His kingdom.”
National Honor Society is open to all Pius X students in grades 10-12 who maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 or higher and meet the by-law requirements of scholarship, character, service and leadership. The NHS officers for 2015-16 are Anna Stuchlik, president; Henry Jaros, vice president; Independence Talken, secretary; Liam Kruse, treasurer; Reagan Scott, senior representative; Clare Morehouse, junior representative; and Kristie Le, sophomore representative.
Senior National Honor Society members include: Eric Adame, Daniel Albin, Nicholas Aldridge, Scott Allder, Taylor Angele, Nathan Asselin, Lillian Barnett, Ellie Beiermann, John Boes, Sydney Bonta, Huy Bui, Nina Bui, Phuong, Thao Bui, Alexis Chapelle, Noah Contreras, Lucy Cook, Kelsey Daberkow, Anna Dalton, Alli Davis, Nicholas Dean, Aaron Decker, Bailey Deterding, Vy Do, Kathryn Drozda, Rachael Duden, Marissa Farmer, Agnes Fiedler, Emma Finder, Alex Fish, Fiona Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Foley, Tyler Gill, Nathan Hall, Savannah Hanus, Nichole Heimes, Leah Heyen, Henry Jaros, Molly Kasparek, Morgan Kempf, Alex Kerr, Willa Koenig, Rose Kotopka, Celine Kottwitz, Caleb Kowalski, Thomas Krick, Catherine Krueger, April Kruse, Liam Kruse, Casey LaFramboise, David Liescheski, Kristen Machacek, Claire Maguire, Nathan Mai, Peter Mai, Cari Mazour, Anah McNeal, Bradley Moss, Philip Murphy, Han Ngo, Angela Nguyen, Trent Nguyen, Rylie O?Meara, Matthew Pham, Emily Pick, Natasha Pierce, Chloe Pinkman, Daniel Robertson, Broderick Rolfes, Kylie Root, Kyle Sager, Alec Schafers, Reagan Scott, Maresa Searls, Morgan Shipley, Therese Sievert, Kylie Sims, Elizabeth Staab, Brooke Strokan, Anna Stuchlik, Rilee Sukup, Independence Talken, David Tines, Mickey Tran, Whitney Tran, Kacie Tremain, Nathan Ullman, Megan Wackel, Bryan Warday, Jenna Wennekamp, Jacquelyn Wright, and Jared Yost.
Junior National Honor Society members include: Peyton Abendroth, Danielle Archuleta, Evan Aylor, Ceyenna Barnhill, Damon Barr, Lauren Berke, Marten Berke, Anna Boothe, Chandler Boyte, Brandon Brion, Anthony Budell, Ellen Budell, Ngoc-Tran Bui, Jacob Bunz, Jacob Cederberg, Trenton Chramosta, Olivia Coffey, Andrew Crist, Samantha Crook, Gregory Dalton, Joseph Dawson, Erin Dolph, William Dostal, Megan Dougherty, Jack Easley, Clare Ellerbee, Morgan Felber, Rian Floyd, Joshua Fry, Augustine Fulton, Thomas Fulton, Samuel Gillan, Jack Goeden, Eden Gose, Michael Gries, Brynn Hagen, Rachel Hardy, Christy Heimbrecht, Megan Hellem, Dung Hoang, Bryce Holcomb, Gemma Hotovy, Simon Hovis, Alexis Hruby, Clare Jaros, Kayla Johnson, Miranda Johs, Justine Jorgensen, Conor Kearns, Robert Kirkpatrick, Nathan Kobus, Kyle Kramer, Anna Krause, Brooke Kreikemeier, William Kruse, Caleb Laue, Hanna Lyons, Tommy Mai, Ella Majerus, Mark McDonald, Allison McElroy, Kathleen Medill, Noah Mettler, Molly Mild, Maria Milhouse, Natalie Milhouse, Brayden Miller, Clare Morehouse, Caroline Nebel, Anthony Nguyen, Brian Nguyen, Jessica Nguyen, John Nguyen, Mary Dung Nguyen, Lauren Niedergeses, Emily O’Gara, Ian Ogea, Brittany Ohnoutka, Mollie Pieper, Olivia Pletcher, Hunter Pollack, Jillian Power, Maggie Reese, Mary Reese, Abigayle Reiber, Jenna Riley, Mariah Rivera, Aspen Rolfes, Amanda Rowley, Natalie Schieuer, Claire Schilmoeller, Emma Scholtes, Ethan Schott, Briley Sebek, Lindsey Selting, Taylor Shreve, Gabrielle Smith, Mary Soden, Tara Soukup, Anthony Stacy, Julia Swanson, Luke Tasler, Regan Taubenheim, Trevor Thomsen, Huy Truong, William Twehous, Quynh Chau Vu, Gabrielle Wagner, Riley Warner, Catherine Welty, Brock Wordekemper, and Adam Zastrow.
Ranking among the top 5% of all Catholic high schools in the country, Pius X provides an affordable, Catholic education in a positive environment. As part of the Pius X family, students deepen their faith and knowledge, and have opportunities to pursue their talents and passions. With its largest enrollment ever at 1,225 students, Pius X has served the Lincoln community for 60 years and works to instill six core values - excellence, service, purpose, faith, integrity and charity - into the next generation of leaders. Learn more about Pius X High School and the Pius X Foundation at www.piusx.net or follow us at Facebook.com/RestoreAllThings and @PiusXLincoln.
