This week marked the debut of the STEM Observer, a gazette founded and run by those in the STEM magnet program at Dutch Fork High School. Mornin' Hays has his own column on the Observer, which is below. While more Mornin' Hays articles on the Observer will be shared here, you can check out the newspaper itself at this link, and if you like it and/or pity us, you can subscribe to it right here. This week's topic: needless resume-stuffing (which is a quite prevalent plague at Dutch Fork).
Last spring, I, like several of my peers, received a nomination for National Honors Society. I recall that it came in the form of a letter folded in thirds, completely identical to the dozens of others most of my classmates got, only unique in the fact that my full name (even going so far as to include my middle name) was neatly handwritten on one of the folds. It told me that I was part of a select group who qualified for such an honor, and that I definitely should pass by Room XYZ after school to get enrolled. Make no mistake, this was a noteworthy distinction I received from all of my hard work to get such outstanding grades (I presume my essays on self-defense against fresh fruit also helped my case). Nevertheless, I opted to ignore it, feeling a little deterred by the entry fee and the fact that I would miss induction due to opening night of Aida.
But they were not going to let me go that easily. After missing the first deadline, I received yet another letter during class that again urged me to come by. My teacher fully endorsed the notion, citing the fact that it would look good on a college resume and give me experience and (most important of all) the shiny thing I get to wear at graduation. I decided to be fair and give NHS some consideration, but a thought eventually occurred to me: how much would this really help on my resume?
Now, granted, NHS is by no means a bad organization, and I can’t say what it’s like to actively participate in similar service clubs. I haven’t done Beta Club since sixth grade, and my Y-chromosome automatically disqualifies me from even thinking about being a Junior Civitan. Also, my grandmother insists that the NHS was a distinguished honor way back in her day, and to be fair, it probably was once one of the few organizations available to give such honor through nominations. And truly, if you really want or need to get service hours and gain experience, the NHS and its contemporaries are a pretty good route to take. Unfortunately, if you’re only looking to join it because you already are very accomplished and active and only want to stack your resume, you’re wasting your time.
The constant search for resume-fillers are all part of a widespread misconception that I think too many high school students are falling victim to. For lack of a more creative phrase, it is just plain redundant. Most people I know who join NHS are exactly what the letter says they are: they receive good--sometimes outstanding--grades, they’ve impressed teachers, and they likely have been active in numerous extracurriculars. Those are some pretty good qualities to show off to colleges in and of themselves (even though they’re probably already fit to be accepted). For that reason, there really is no extra good that joining a group for no reason other than to name ONE MORE CLUB that, apparently, will automatically guarantee your admission into any school of your choice. Think about what you are already doing and how busy you already are before you try and force another extracurricular in, and only join clubs if you think they are meaningful and if you can gain something from them.