This holiday season, NEHS extends its heartfelt gratitude to our Chapter Advisors for their unwavering leadership and commitment to nurturing the next generation of scholars and leaders. We are also very grateful to be able to work with such wonderful student members: your creativity, passion, and determination continue to amaze us and drive the mission of NEHS forward.
May your holidays be filled with joy, peace, and the warmth of shared stories and connections. As we look ahead to 2025, we are excited to see how your chapters will continue to develop and make a meaningful impact within your communities
We wish you all a festive holiday season and a bright and successful 2025!
A Recipe for Romance: How to Create the Perfect Hallmark Holiday Movie
To celebrate the Hallmark Channel’s cherished and anticipated holiday movie countdown, Saint Mary’s Hall’s Charles Dickens Chapter would like to present NEHS with the perfect script recipe.
Ingredients
- One rural town covered in snow (called something like Frost Falls)
- One stressed young woman from the city who is visiting her childhood home Frost Falls (We suggest she wears an oversized coat, scarf, and beanie. Also, her name should be something holiday inspired: examples Holly, Joy, Carol, Eve, Angel, or Noel)
- One rugged young man who attended high school with Holly, Joy, Carol, Eve, Angel, or Noel in Frost Falls who now works in construction
- One greedy corporate type from the city determined to buy Frost Falls’ bakery, bookstore, or Christmas tree farm (your choice) and demolish it completely to make room for a Java Juice franchise. (Our heroines cannot let this happen!)
Directions
Mix ingredients together and bake in a 350 degree oven for two hours and two commercial breaks. Delight your senses while you watch as the stressed young woman from the city and the rugged young man from her past caramelize a plan to save Frost Falls’ bakery, bookstore, or Christmas tree farm (again your choice).
Remove from the oven and frost with literary or holiday puns.
Enjoy with hot chocolate and repeat this recipe every two hours throughout the month of December.
Ellie Wyche (left), has been attending Saint Mary’s Hall for five years. She is the Society Chair for the Charles Dickens’ NEHS chapter. Ellie enjoys reading and creative writing, and she looks forward to the events NEHS has planned to encourage a love for English. Calista Kayatta (right) has been attending Saint Mary’s Hall for four years. She is the Vice-Chair and loves writing, classics, and reading historical biographies.
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.
