Record 146 Students Inducted Into NTHS
Posted on 03/27/2024
The Madison-Oneida BOCES chapter of the National Technical Honor Society welcomed its largest induction class yet on Wednesday, March 27th. The chapter recognized a record 146 new members for the 2023-24 school year in a formal induction ceremony held at the Vernon Verona Sherrill High School Auditorium.
NTHS is an honor society recognizing exceptional student achievement in career and technical education. To be eligible for membership, students must maintain a minimum 3.0 grade point average in their CTE program and their high school. Accepted members must also participate in extracurricular activities at BOCES and/or their home school, demonstrate exceptional character, and carry the endorsement of their CTE teacher. They must also exemplify and uphold the NTHS values, consisting of knowledge, skill, honesty, service, responsibility, scholarship, citizenship, and leadership. NTHS membership is a distinction achieved by less than five percent of CTE students nationwide.
This year’s class continues a recent trend of setting membership benchmarks for the chapter. The 2024 induction cohort builds on 2023’s record-setting class of 129 students. The recognized students are enrolled across 11 school districts and all 23 Career and Technical Education programs offered to seniors. This marks the first time that every senior-level program has been represented in a single induction class.
Included in the 23 CTE programs represented were two recent program additions that inducted their first group of students in 2024. The MVCC PROPEL early college partnership program contributed four new NTHS members. The Sports Management and Entertainment Marketing program, run in partnership with the Canastota Central School District, recognized four members of its inaugural senior class.
The group of honorees also featured one set of twins from the Hamilton Central School District. Bryan Hoke has been studying Heavy Equipment, and twin brother Brett has been pursuing his course of study in the Information Technology Systems/CISCO Networking program.
Each new member receives an official NTHS membership certificate, the NTHS pin, a graduation tassel, graduation honor cords and a window decal. An official NTHS seal will be applied to each member’s high school diploma upon graduating. The inductees will have the privilege of wearing their graduation cords at their CTE completion ceremony, and at their high school graduation.
Career and Technical Education is a student-driven discipline, so it was only fitting that students played a role in the ceremony proceedings. Stockbridge Valley student Mary Beecher, a senior in the Automotive Collision Repair program, led the Pledge of Allegiance. VVS senior Matthew Pennise, from the Advanced Culinary Experience program, led students in the NTHS Pledge.
MOBOCES Board of Education President Richard Engelbrecht delivered the closing remarks, but did not formally close the ceremony. After Mr. Engelbrecht helped recognize 146 new student members, NTHS advisor Rachel Helmer turned the spotlight on our longest-tenured Board member by bestowing an honorary NTHS membership on Mr. Engelbrecht. The honorary membership is reserved for exceptional supporters of the Career and Technical Education program. Mr. Engelbrecht has served MOBOCES for over a half century on its Board of Education while representing the Madison Central School District. He began his first term in 1972 and has served continuously to the present day.
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