Malden High School National Honor Society selects 24 new members

John W. Hutchins Chapter at MHS – founded in 1921 – is a charter member of NHS with pillars: ‘Leadership, Scholarship, Service, and Character’

By Steve Freker

MALDEN – It has long been recognized that Malden High School – historically – has been a trendsetter. This has been the case not only regionally and statewide, but also on a national basis on a number of fronts.

One of Malden High’s crowning moments came over 100 years ago, in 1921, when it emerged as a charter member of what has become one of most prestigious cocurricular academic organizations in American history, the National Honor Society (NHS). The National Honor Society, now an iconic fixture on the landscape of American secondary education, boasts over one million members and over 15,000 chapters. The National Honor Society has chapters in all 50 states, the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.), all U.S. territories and possessions (including Puerto Rico, Guam and U.S. Virgin Islands) and in American schools in more than 40 foreign countries. Malden High School is one of the first schools to have established a chapter of the National Honor Society in the charter year, 1921.

The first attempt to form a national high school academic honors organization were initiated at the 1919 annual convention of the National Association of Secondary School Principals in Chicago. The first chapter of the new society was chartered in 1921 at the Fifth Avenue High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., the school at which Edward Rynearson, considered the father and founder of NHS, was principal.

Malden is believed to have been perhaps the first Massachusetts high school to obtain an NHS charter, when it initiated the John W. Hutchins Chapter at Malden High School. By 1922, Massachusetts had added 14 new NHS Chapters. Each year since, Malden High School’s National Honor Society has selected new members, often the selections being made after requesting recommendations from MHS educators and other staff after worthy students whose academic grades met the established criteria were nominated. Formal inductions then follow at a later date.

For the remainder of this school year, the new NHS selectees will be required to participate in both NHS group and individual community and civic service projects, some assigned and others planned individually. Typical service projects include tutoring programs for underclassmen, reading development for elementary students, fundraising for local or national charities, blood drives, serving meals at local food banks and servicing the needs of the elderly in the community. In addition, selectees are required to maintain the high level of academic performance that earned them acceptance, in addition to continuing to exhibit high character as school citizens.

“We are extremely proud of our new National Honor Society selectees and we thank NHS advisor Paul Marques for his continued service in guiding our top academic association at Malden High School,” MHS Principal Chris Mastrangelo said.

“He [Marques] does a tremendous job in accepting recommendations of students from our staff and then guiding their service projects after selections,” Mastrangelo added. “These students and Mr. Marques are a credit to our school community.”

Following are the newest National Honor Society selectees from Malden High School:

Orit Abel

Belen Quispe Almendro

Yonglin Chen

Shawn Chen

Ryan Coggswell

Giselle Dessert

Nicholas Duggan

Dante Federico

Victoria Gammon

Larissa Retamero Granja

Danielle Harrington

Kyle Huang

Saia Hussain

Abdullah Khan

Ada Li

Jessica Li

Keira Lin

Erica Littlejohn

Thalia Louigene

Christina Mui

Lily Nguyen

Daniel O’Toole

Ilyes Ouldsaada

Guertternnensje Pierre Rene

Emma Strano

Hailey Tran

Isabelle Tan