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Twelve Luverne High School students were inducted into the Luverne National Honor Society Chapter on Nov. 5.
The dozen students were selected by the local faculty to join the 100-year-old national organization, and they best met the Society’s four categories or dimensions of life — character, scholarship, leadership and service.
New members include seniors Dalwa Alinizi, Michelle Arevalo, Isaiah Bartels, Tacey Baustian, Meagan Hansen and Andrew Wagner.
New junior members are Ethan Beyer, Xavier Carbonneau, Regan Feit, Ainslie Robinson, Lauren Ver Steeg and Cade Wenninger.
Previous members include seniors Claire Baustian, Alexa Chesley, Colby Crabtree, Graham Cunningham, Madigan Flom, Nicole Hoogland, Heather Huether, Amelia Jarchow, Gunnar Oldre and Jordan Winter.
The number of members selected for the Society is 7 percent of the junior and senior classes in Luverne.
Invitations are sent to all students with a grade point average of 3.250 or better to apply for the award.
Names of the applicants are sent to all the teachers, who rate only the students they have had or currently have in class. A committee makes the final selection from the ratings and the student’s application responses.
Guest speaker is LHS grad
LHS 1993 graduate Kevin Kessler shared personal stories and tidbits of advice in his message to those attending the initiation ceremony in the middle-high school media center.
“Anytime someone tells you ‘no,’ it is going to hurt,” he said. “Rejection and disappointment are going to happen, and how you respond to it is what’s important and describes, to a certain point, your character.”
Kessler referred to the rejection he felt when he was declined admittance to a university doctorate program after 14 years of teaching high school band in Brandon, South Dakota.
The experience reminded him about growing up on an acreage south of Luverne and his teenage chore of mowing the family’s lawn.
Kessler admitted he didn’t take the mowing job seriously, leaving patches on the lawn as well as long grass around the trees. His late father brought his poor attitude and performance of his chore to his attention.
“Here is what Dad knew but I didn’t know at the time — but I do now,” Kessler said. “It wasn’t about the lawn. It was about the job, about the effort, about taking pride in your work and not just letting it go and calling it good enough … it had to do with learning that anything you do is worth doing well.”
Three years after the rejection to pursue a doctorate, Kessler applied again — and was accepted.
Kessler is now director of athletic bands at South Dakota State University in Brookings.
Because the Honor Society is an elite group, Kessler reminded the students it is their duty to keep the pillars of the National Honor Society — character, scholarship, leadership and service — on display as they go forward with their lives.
Officers elected for first time, more opportunity
For the first time, the Luverne chapter chose officers to lead the group. They also conducted the initiation ceremony earlier than normal in the school year to allow the group to have more of a presence among the student body and upcoming activities.
Gunnar Oldre is president, Amelia Jarchow, vice president and Claire Baustian, treasurer.
Each student also selected one teacher who made an impact on his or her education, and that teacher presented the student with the Honor Society pin.
The selected teachers included Jeff Weber, James Jarvie, Peter Janiszeski, Courtney Graanstra, Caroline Thorson, Jon Schomacker, Jason Berghorst, April Wallace, Amy Sahly and Mike Wenninger.