Eight inducted into Jayhawk's National Honor Society

New members of the Jayhawk-Linn High School chapter of the National Honor Society included, from left, Tanner Holt, Bertha Becerra, Adrien Felix, JoVeia Clark, Jayden Holt, Janessa Scott, Carson Walton and Rachel Walton. The group was inducted in a ceremony at the school's auditorium on Wednesday, April 16. (Photos by Roger Sims / Linn County Journal)

By Roger Sims, rsims@linncountyjournal.com

MOUND CITY – Eight students were inducted into the Jayhawk-Linn High School chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS) on Wednesday, April 16. The addition of the students increased the size of chapter members to 29, the largest group ever, according to NHS sponsor Joel Schauf.

Inductees included juniors Bertha Becerra, Adrien Felix and Carson Walton; and sophomores JoVeia Clark, Jayden Holt, Tanner Holt, Janessa Scott and Rachel Walton.

They joined students who had joined the NHS ranks over the last couple of years. Those students include seniors Trenton Broyles, Brody Clark, Dayson Eastwood, Callie Holt, Cierra Lindsey, Brevin Mendenhall, Kenzley Nation and Jacen Taylor.

NHS President Callie Holt lights the first of four candles at the beginning of the ceremony.

Junior members include Brenlyn Bogan, Brilyn Bogan, Brea Dawson, Pyper Grote, Kiera McGrew, Clay Nichols, Adeline Randall, Eleanor Vaughn, Celeste Schneider, Truman Schneider, Breck Umphenour, Jude Wade and Denton White.

Following a brief introduction by Schauf, JLHS Principal Julie Samuels addressed the NHS inductees and members. She talked about one of her favorite books, Balcony People by Joyce Landorf Heatherley. In the book, Samuels said, the author talks about the people who love you and support you throughout your life.

She then asked the students to stand.

“Turn around and look at your balcony people,” she told the students as they turned to face the audience seated in the JLHS auditorium. “They love you so much that we can’t even come up with the words to describe the amount of love and the pride we have in everything you do and all your accomplishments.”

She encouraged the students as the moved forward in their lives to select additional balcony people that would support them and lift them up.

Kate Strader, a JLHS graduate and NHS member, was guest speaker at the induction.

Kate Dawson Strader was introduced as the guest speaker. Strader, a 2020 JLHS graduate, was inducted into the NHS in 2018. She attended Pittsburg State University, will graduate this May with a degree in elementary education and has accepted a teaching post at St. Mary’s Colgan. A track athlete throughout her high school and college career, Strader was deemed by Schauf to be one of the most successful athletes to graduate JLHS.

After thanking her mentor teachers and coaches for her success, Strader talked about the significance of the core NHS values: scholarship, service, leadership and character. She told the students she realized the time and effort it took to balance those values.

“Each of you are witness to the fact that it is possible to achieve success in the midst of the business of life,” she said. She went on to encourage them to hold fast to the values that got them to this point.

Following the presentations of both new and current members, a reception was held for the students and their families.

Twenty-seven of the 29 members of the school's NHS chapter gather on stage at the end of the ceremony.

Correction: in the original version of this story, Dayson Eastwood's name was spelled incorrectly. We regret the error.