On Thursday, April 4, the McAuley Chapter of National Honor Society (NHS) at Mount Mercy Academy hosted its annual induction at the Mercy Center Convent Chapel. One senior and 24 new junior members were inducted, joining 27 previously inducted members. Membership in the National Honor Society is based on excellence in knowledge, scholarship, leadership, service and character.
The National Honor Society was started in 1921 and there are over 20,000 chapters worldwide. The induction was attended by faculty, parents, relatives, friends and Mount Mercy President Margaret M. Cronin.
The senior NHS members who were installed in 2018 explained the history of National Honor Society and what the five pillars of NHS mean. Co-moderator Amy Zawadzki presented the candidates for membership and Principal Margaret Staszak draped NHS stoles on the inductees.
Caitlin Pautz Simson of Buffalo, a member of Mount Mercy’s Class of 2006 and a past NHS member, was the guest speaker for the evening. Simson graduated from Ithaca College where she received her bachelor’s degree in Clinical Health Studies in 2010 and a Doctorate of Physical Therapy in 2012. Simson currently works as a pediatric physical therapist at the Cantalician Center in Depew.
Simson related to the members some of the famous people in the world who were also members of National Honor Society. She told them that they had the tools to be just as successful in their lives. She urged the students to take advantage of all the opportunities that National Honor Society membership provides. She also related that she could attest to the fact that their Mount Mercy education would provide them with the basis for success in college and beyond.
Seven Buffalo residents were inducted. The juniors that were inducted were Kathleen Ball, Brigid Burke, Madeline Fecio, Erin Jackson, Elizabeth Lang, Jessica Shaw and Krista Stephany
Four juniors from Orchard Park — Kathleen Hughes, Jillian Kotwica, Olivia Larson and Evelyn Nowak — were also inducted. Six juniors from West Seneca — Hannah Dierolf, Grace Harrington, Allysyn Pajek, Jenna Shalloe, Bridget Whelan and Hope Willert — also were inducted into the McAuley Chapter of National Honor Society. Juniors Madelyn DiGiore, Chloe McHugh-Freedenberg and Olivia Seifert, all of Lakeview, were also made members of NHS.
Senior Josslynn Strang of Westfield, junior Melanie Bebak of Cheektowaga, juniors Hanna Chmielowiec of Eden, junior Amanda Songin of Springville and junior Christina Zambron of Lackawanna round out the newly inducted NHS members at Mount Mercy.
