In a normal school year, acquiring the required 30 hours of community service for National Honors Society (NHS) is hard. Add a pandemic to that mix and you’ve upped the ante. Fewer businesses and organizations than usual are letting volunteers help out this year due to safety reasons and certain COVID guidelines.

“It has been difficult to find places to get community service hours since many places are only allowing a certain number of volunteers, but Mrs. Leonard has done her best to make sure each NHS member finds hours somewhere,” said Connick, NHS president. “The hardest thing about being NHS president is trying to make sure everyone is included in service projects and finding a way for members to gain hours in the time of COVID-19.”

However, Connick does not let this get in the way of making sure all members are taken care of.

“To help fellow NHS members with hours, West Brunswick NHS is working with the local elementary schools to see if NHS members can read to the younger kids, whether it is over Zoom or in person,” said Connick. “Personally, I try to invite a few members along with me if I do find service projects that will provide hours for us.”

Being a part of NHS is a huge accomplishment for so many students, and it’s important to give back to the community. Although it is difficult to find hours, members are making an effort and finding ways to help others.

“It has been really hard to get community service hours, especially because of COVID,” said Anna Frazier, Junior NHS member.