This year, National Honor Society (NHS) coordinators have initiated a new program for its dedicated members, the Alumni Mentorship Program. While it is currently only open to seniors in NHS, the hope is that the program will be successful, so that it will be made available to all members during the coming years. The purpose of the program is to introduce and to provide current NHS members with a chance to meet alumni mentors who can give them advice on professional development, networking, and career paths. The initiative was established as an incentive for seniors to remain in NHS and may also appeal to prospective members.

To sign up, interested NHS members sent NHS coordinators a biography, including a photo and a specific field of interest, such as Medicine/Health/Science/Psychology, or Engineering/Computer Science. The members were then paired up with participating alumni based on similar prospective career choices. The Alumni Mentorship Program provides students with the chance to explore their interests before pursuing them in college, by meeting with professionals who were once in the same position as they are now.

“This program is designed to guide and help all NHS members to find their true passion.”

“I think it is a great opportunity to speak with alumni who are in a field similar to the one that we wish to pursue,” said Juliette Klitz ’17. “It is also beneficial that these mentors are alumni, since they have already experienced the journey the same way that we eventually will, so now we can get advice and suggestions from them that we can really relate to,” Klitz continued.

On February 14th, 2017, NHS hosted a kickoff event during which participating alumni and students will met one another. The event consisted of three sessions between students and their mentors to discuss topics including networking, internship and part-time job opportunities in the field, and how to advance in the career. The ultimate goal of the program is to give seniors the ability to explore their areas of interest outside a classroom and in the real world at a young age.

“This program is designed to guide and help all NHS members to find their true passion, which may ultimately grow into a full-time career in the future,” said Vice President of NHS, Neeraj Sakhrani ’17.