Fifty students inducted into National Honor Society

On Thursday Gloucester High School had its first pandemic era induction ceremony for the National Honor Society. While parents and families were not allowed to attend in person, it was streamed live on Facebook and is currently on YouTube.

The induction ceremony began with a recognition of the four class officers President Cameron Muniz, Vice President Luke Walkama, Historian Ryan Bergin, and Dylan Orlando standing in for Catherine Canavan-Dysthe.

Unlike previous years, the current seniors in NHS were recognized as well as the juniors, as the pandemic prevented them from participating in their own ceremony last year. 

The previous inductees were given their certificates and sashes as they entered while their names were read aloud.

NHS President Cameron Muniz followed, identifying the names of the honored guests attending the ceremony such as Mayor Safatia Romeo Theken, School Committee Member Samantha Watson, Superintendent Ben Lummis, Principal James Cook, and the members of the NHS Board: Carol Cafasso, Kyle Linehan, Daniel Fleury, Ellen Clarke, and Geoffrey Kennedy. 

The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Senior Ryan Bergin followed by Senior Madison Kolterjahn singing the National Anthem. 

Cameron Muniz and Superintendent Ben Lummis gave a description of the National Honor Society and what it means to be a member as well as the four pillars of NHS: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Character. 

Mayor Safatia Romeo Theken spoke, expressing how proud she is of the incoming members and School Committee Member Samantha Watson congratulated the students for their service in the community.

Next, Vice President Luke Walkama explained how successful students were in volunteering despite the challenges presented by COVID-19. “As of this week we have completed a tremendous 1192 hours of volunteering,” Walkama said. “At this point we have logged over 612 hours of tutoring our peers.”

Afterwards, President Muniz explained what it means to show leadership. Historian Bergin described the strong character of NHS members. Vice President Walkama delved more into what the NHS has done for community service and why it’s important. Last, Substitute Secretary Orlando talked about scholarship and how it’s essential to being a member of the NHS. 

National Honor Society Advisor Rayanne Menery Sammataro gave Senior Mila Barry the Scholarship Award, Senior Dylan Orlando the Character Award, Senior Luke Walkama the Service Award, and Senior Cameron Muniz the Leadership Award. 

In total, three seniors were inducted and forty-seven juniors were inducted into the National Honor Society. 

Seniors:

Joshua Benjamin

Maria Graffeo

Yamilet GuzmanBernabe

Juniors:

Natalie Aiello

Elise Amaral

Jacob Andrews

Grace Boucher

Faith Brown

Kayla Calomo

Neville Clancy

Kyle Clifford

Andrew Coelho

Yahir Collado 

Ais Cook

Cammi Cooper

Aidan Cornetta

Emily Corrao

Sophia Costa

Maria De Oliveira

Calvin Del Vecchio

Zaila Dort

Thomas Elliott

Eliana Faria

Daniel Hafey

Johnny Ho

Olivia Hogan-Lopez

Charles King

George King

Matthew Kostecki

Drew Macchi

Caroline McKay

Jason McNiff

Darcy Muller

Isabelle Nixon

Kylie O’Connell

Chiara O’Connor

Daniel O’Leary

Jack Patten

Summer Pereira

Nicholas Poulin

Bailey Saputo

Robert Schuster

Haily Shea

Jenna Smith

Maxwell Sperry

Jhailenny Tejada

Linda Toromo

Ava Vitale

Haley Weed

Ella Young

The ceremony closed with the National Honor Society Pledge and a speech from Principal James Cook. Finally Cameron Muniz thanked those who helped make the ceremony possible and the induction was adjourned.