National Society of Collegiate Scholars holds fall induction

By Michelle Jin     9/25/08 7:00pm

This Monday, 164 Rice sophomores and juniors will join the Rice chapter of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars honor society. Every spring, the NSCS invites freshmen and sophomores in the top 20 percent of their class who have at least a 3.4 grade point average to join. The society has 233 chapters nationwide and includes 250 current Rice students. The NSCS induction ceremony will be held in the Farnsworth Pavilion of the Rice Memorial Center 6 p.m. Monday.

At the induction ceremony, members of the Rice NSCS Chapter will introduce the officers, call out the names of new members and present each of them with a decorative pin. Members will take an oath pledging to uphold the three pillars of NSCS: scholarship, leadership and service.

Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman will serve as the keynote speaker at the ceremony.

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Lauren Hunt, Rice NSCS Chapter President, said the NSCS was looking forward to Forman's speech.

"We're very excited about having one of the Rice administration come and speak to our members," Hunt, a Baker College senior, said. "It really shows [the students] the campus support for the society."

Although the Rice chapter was established in 2000, the organization had been dormant for a while, Hunt said. Rice NSCS Vice President Saadiyah Bilal said the NSCS had been trying to revitalize its program since last year by increasing outreach on campus.

Last year, members tutored elementary school students through the Nehemiah Center of Houston and spoke about the importance of integrity to those students at assemblies.

On Integrity Day, NSCS members signed a banner that symbolized their commitment to upholding this value. The group also participated in College Day last March by leading a class of elementary school students around Rice to give them a glimpse of what college life was like. They also organized ice cream socials and résumé building workshops in collaboration with the Center for Student Professional Development. Currently, the Rice chapter are conferring with NSCS chapters at the University of Houston and Houston Baptist University to perform hurricane relief service.

Hunt said the NSCS tried to engage its members and encourage community involvement throughout the year.

"We're a lot more than the regular honor society, which sometimes just has an induction ceremony," Hunt said.

In addition to community service opportunities, NSCS members have access to NSCS scholarships, leadership training, internship and job leads, career development resources, travel opportunities and discounts at certain stores like Barnes and Noble Booksellers and Kaplan Test Prep. According to their Web site, NSCS awards more scholarship money to undergraduates than any other honor society in the U.S.

Hunt said the most valuable aspect of being an NSCS member is the networking opportunities. NSCS is partners with various corporations and graduate schools, which give both scholarships and recruiting offers to NSCS members.

On the national level, NSCS holds a conference every summer called the Convention for representatives from each NSCS chapter. The Convention offers leadership seminars and career networking opportunities for attendees and is a chance for different chapters to compare past activities and work with each other in the future.

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