On Tuesday, October 29, thirty-two students were inducted into the National Honor Society at The Gunston School. The National Honor Society (NHS) is a prestigious organization for students in upper grades, which requires them to meet rigorous national and school standards in the areas of scholarship, leadership, service, and character.

The inductees, their families, and current NHS members gathered in the Susie Konkel Atrium for breakfast, pictures, and celebration before the induction ceremony that was held in the Field House. Welcoming remarks were made by Headmaster John Lewis, who spoke about the importance of pursuing the four key National Honor Society values: leadership, character, service, and scholarship.

Following Mr. Lewis’ remarks, the keynote address was delivered by distinguished inventor and humanitarian Kevin White. Mr. White is the founder and Executive Director of Global Vision 2020. He has been working on the issue of eyeglass access among the world’s poorest populations since 2005. A career Marine, Kevin graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1992, the Army Command and Staff College in 2004, and received his MBA from Johns Hopkins, Carey School of Business last year. His passion for providing vision services to people living in low-resource areas stems from his time as the Program Director for Humanitarian and Civic Assistance at the US European Command while on active duty. Upon his retirement from the Corps, he worked as a defense contractor in operations management, leaving in 2014 to make his priority the 2.5 billion people worldwide who need, but currently have no access to, eyeglasses. He is a model of scholarship, leadership, character, and service.

To highlight the core values of NHS, four candles were lit by current members as senior and NHS president Grace Holmes spoke about the meaning of each value. NHS Secretary Areopl Bai read each inductees’ accomplishments as they were called up one-by-one, to receive a certificate, pin, and rose, and to sign their names into the NHS registry. To make them official members of the society, current members pinned the inductees with a pin bearing the NHS logo and the pledge was recited, led by Grace Holmes. Mr. Michael Kaylor, the NHS advisor, concluded the ceremony with high praise to the students for their accomplishments.