NEHS Chapter Project Grants provide chapters with the financial resources to turn creative ideas into meaningful projects. These grants enable students to take the lead in fostering literacy, supporting education, and making a tangible difference both locally and beyond. By applying for a Chapter Project Grant, NEHS chapters can fund projects that expand access to books, cultivate a love of reading, and build connections across diverse communities, all while developing leadership, organizational, and service skills.
The following narratives showcase the power of NEHS Chapter Project Grants: they give students the tools to serve their communities creatively, thoughtfully, and with lasting impact.
NEHS Chapter Project Grant applications are open through October 14, 2025.
Building a Legacy of Reading at Ridgefield Memorial High School, NJ
Our chapter’s National English Honor Society contribution to our community is through our collection of books for elementary, middle school, and high school teachers for their classroom libraries and through our future community book libraries. What we, along with our chapter’s National Honor Society, plan to achieve with the little book library project is to build a strong foundation for literary growth among students in our district from all grade levels by making reading more accessible.
Since the beginning of the school year, we have been collecting and receiving donations for books, new and old, of numerous grade levels. We have coordinated these efforts with the other schools in our district to ensure that each classroom’s literary needs and wants are being met. We have also donated books to be used for the elementary school’s Read Across America/DEAR projects and programs. As our schools are divided by educational levels, our book libraries have been planned accordingly to accommodate books for the grades given in each of the schools. For example, one school’s book library only has books for kindergarten, first grade, and second grade.
Furthermore, as per our plan and its recent approval at the end of April, we will have three book library boxes built in each of our remaining schools in the community, as the middle school already has one built previously, with varying themes. These themes will include colorful, age and grade-level appropriate depictions of characters, books, and popular interests of students to make reading appeal to a greater audience. These three boxes have already been ordered, and we are in the process of building them and designing them, all with the project funds.
Lastly, our chapter’s National English Honor Society is looking to foster a project with a long-lasting legacy. Although the book libraries have not been running long, we have already started to see the fruits of our labor. For instance, we have received emails from many teachers in our district thanking us for the books and providing them with the materials to diversify their students’ learning. We only hope this will continue.
NEHS Students Bring Books, Learning, and Joy to the Dominican Republic
Thanks to the NEHS Chapter Project Grant, Santiago Christian School’s NEHS Library Committee worked together to help a low-income school expand its library, while also organizing its existing collection by genre, crafting hands-on activities to perform with the students, reading to students, and introducing them to basic English vocabulary related to their reading.
Jubileo, a small school located in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, is an establishment based on the values of contribution, empathy, and community. In many cases, the kids that attend have been deprived of the opportunity of attending school due to significant circumstances such as immigration and limited family income.
The NEHS Library Committee ordered 30 easy-to-understand, kid-friendly books to donate to Jubileo. We arranged a visit with the school where we read with the kids and did activities with them including coloring pages and crafting for the younger ones, and some reflection on the readings with the older ones. We also organized the school library while we were there.
The group was divided by grade; ages ranged from 3 to 14 years old. The activities involved reading short stories interactively and actively engaging the kids with songs, picture-showing, and funny voices. Following the reading time, the NEHS volunteers translated key words from the book from Spanish to English, building basic vocabulary. Lastly, craft and drawing projects were done to cement the lessons learned from the stories read. Some of the activities included coloring a picture of Curious George while learning how to say “monkey” in English, making a flower crown after reading about nature, rating the story read and drawing their favorite character and moment, and even creating an alternate ending. While most committee members spent time with the kids, a small group organized the library. They created labels for different genres and organized the books, even creating a special display for the newly donated books of kids and staff who saw the new additions.
Heather Colbert, the General Manager at Jubileo school said: “We are so thankful for the group of NEHS students who came and served our students. They planned well thought out activities for the kids, organized our library, and gifted us much needed new books. We are thankful for the intention that they put into planning this activity and the passion for reading that they shared with our students.”
The activity was a success, as it was beneficial not only for the children of Jubileo, but for the NEHS members involved as well. We interacted with and made friends with kids we wouldn’t normally get to know, and the Jubileo kids had a great time.
National English Honor Society
The National English Honor Society (NEHS), founded and sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta, is the only international organization exclusively for secondary students and faculty who, in the field of English, merit special note for past and current accomplishments. Individual secondary schools are invited to petition for a local chapter, through which individuals may be inducted into Society membership. Immediate benefits of affiliation include academic recognition, scholarship and award eligibility, and opportunities for networking with others who share enthusiasm for, and accomplishment in, the language arts.
America’s first honor society was founded in 1776, but high school students didn’t have access to such organizations for another 150 years. Since then, high school honor societies have been developed in leadership, drama, journalism, French, Spanish, mathematics, the sciences, and in various other fields, but not in English. In 2005, National English Honor Society launched and has been growing steadily since, becoming one of the largest academic societies for secondary schools.
As Joyce Carol Oates writes, “This is the time for which we have been waiting.” Or perhaps it was Shakespeare: “Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer . . .” we celebrate English studies through NEHS.
National English Honor Society accepts submissions to our blog, NEHS Museletter, from all membership categories (students, Advisors, and alumni). If you are interested in submitting a blog, please read the Suggested Guidelines on our website. Email any questions and all submissions to: submit@nehsmuseletter.us.
