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Fifteen Luverne High School juniors and seniors were inducted into the National Honor Society Nov. 23 in a recorded ceremony that replaced the traditional in-person event.
New junior inductees are Trista Baustian, Olivia Huisman, Griffen Jarchow, Casey Sehr, Luke Thorson, Brooklyn VerSteeg and Olivia Wieneke, and seniors are Peter Baustian, Zachary Ahrendt, Simon Boyenga, Rylee Gee, Elise Jarchow, Rozilyn Oye, McKenzie VanGrootheest and Gracie Zewiske.
They joined current senior members Ethan Beyer, Xavier Carbonneau, Regan Feit, Ainslie Robinson, Lauren VerSteeg and Cade Wenninger.
Guest speaker is LHS grad
Eric Dinger, Class of 1999, spoke with students in a pre-recorded message from his home in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he has lived since attending the university there.
As with previous guest speakers, Dinger named each Honor Society value — scholarship, service, leadership and character — and how these values can be demonstrated in the inductees’ lives.
He said he had a unique take on scholarship as an entrepreneur. He has seen people with little or no education and those with multiple college degrees equally, especially when it came to creating and selling businesses.
Dinger himself created and sold two businesses, the most recent of which was Powderhook, sold last year. He sees a common value in those exceeding at scholarship.
“The most important thing you can do for yourself is to ‘do,’” he said.
“Rather than wait for someone to give you permission to ‘do’ the thing you want to do … just start doing it. The more quickly you find out what you do and don’t like, the better you will make your education.”
Along with determining a career path, Dinger also encouraged students “to wait for no one to serve.”
He shared the story of his mentor who would pick up garbage from the ground each time they met. When questioned as to why, his mentor said he wasn’t going to wait for someone else to clean up the community. He was going to do it.
“I think that is such a great lesson for you to learn at this age is that you have to wait for no one to commit to make a difference in the world around you,” Dinger said.
To assist in making that difference, Dinger encouraged Luverne’s National Honor Society inductees to write down their values — what character traits or values do they practice when no one is watching.
“Because when you write them down in advance, you can decide on the fly if what you want to do meets these values and how that thing you’re thinking about fits your values,” he said.
“If you do this in advance of the big decisions, stressors and hard times in your life, I think you will be proud of your ability to make good decisions.”
And solid character values leads to good leadership.
“To me, leadership is about ‘Can I make decisions I trust for self? Can I show others that I can commit to something and follow through,’” he said. “If you can do these processes over and over again, then you can lead anything.”
Thirty-minute virtual ceremony
LHS officials assembled elements of the annual ceremony with students and staff recording themselves at home or school.
The recordings were edited together in a 30-minute video and shown to the public on YouTube.
A day later, the video had more than 230 views, a much larger audience than previous in-person ceremonies.
National Honor Society Luverne Chapter adviser Amy Cook opened the ceremony.
“Even though it may look different, don’t let that take away from the honor and hard work not only of our current members and what they put into making tonight possible but of our new inductees,” she said.
Each year juniors and seniors with grade point averages of 3.25 or higher are invited to apply for membership.
Teachers review and comment on the applications, and a six-member faculty group chooses inductees for membership. The number of inductees is based on class size with 8 percent of the junior and senior classes inducted each year based on the four NHS values.
“Membership in the National Honor Society is one of the highest achievements a high school student can obtain,” said NHS member Regan Feit.
“It is a reflection of their character, leadership, service and scholastic ability. It is also a reflection on their parents, teachers and fellow classmates who have helped and encouraged them.”
Inductees chose one teacher to be recognized at the ceremony as someone who made an impact on their educational journey. Those teachers presented the NHS nominees with their NHS pins.
Kerri Baker, Deb Hoogendoorn, Peter Janiszeski, Courtney Graanstra, Amy Sahly, Todd Oye, James Jarvie, Bill Thompson, Mike Wenninger, Aaron Perkins, Caroline Thorson and April Wallace. Janiszeski, Sahly, Jarvie and Wenninger were each selected by two of the inductees.
In the video, each teacher “pinned” their student by saying a few words about why the student was deserving of the NHS membership.
Guest speaker Dinger also commended the inductees and reminded them to remember who and what built those four NHS values they now exemplify.
“The foundation you have in Luverne with a public school and a community that loves you and cares about you is as good as you can get anywhere,” he said.
Luverne is a great place to be from and from Luverne you can do anything, you can go anywhere … there is literally nothing holding you back but your will to make it happen.”