On April 22nd, voices echoed throughout Corboy Hall as soon the be inducted members of DePaul College Prep’s Science National Honors Society excitedly presented their annual science fair projects to peers, parents, and faculty members (which included judge panelists, too). While all students’ projects focused on different topics, ranging from the effects of music genres on plant growth to the best formulas for 3d printing, there was one thing all presenters shared: a visible love for the sciences.
Founded by aspiring Senior Maeve Hudson, who plans to major in bioengineering at University of Illinois in the fall, Science National Honors Society (SNHS) was added to DePaul College Prep’s list of student extracurricular activities at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year. The spring science fair is only one of many activities students participate in to maintain their membership.
“I had the idea to designate a chapter of SNHS in my junior year,” Hudson recalled. “I kind of threw out a Hail Mary to Ms. Kaminiski and Ms. Keckler the heads of the science department.”
After gaining support from the science teachers, Hudson communicated with Christopher Peterson, Director of Student Life and Activities at DePaul Prep. Peterson helped Hudson send out a survey on the last day of school to gauge student interest for the potential club (commonly referred to as a “chapter” by the American organization Science National Honors Society, which the chapter at DePaul College Prep is now a member of).
“A poll went out on the last day of school to the entire student body,” Hudson said. According to Hudson, the poll asked students whether they would be “interested in seeing this happen,” and more than 100 juniors and seniors to her surprise replied “yes.”
“I mean, I knew there was certainly an audience for this type of thing,” Hudson said. “I was not expecting to get this many people straight out of the gate in the first year…I mean, the more, the merrier.”
Propelled by this huge amount of student interest, Hudson and Claire Kaminiski, science teacher and now head moderator of SNHS at DePaul Prep, began researching the process of starting a high school chapter.
“We kind of looked online at what the National Honors Society requirements were for making a chapter, and what it would need for people to become members,” explained Kaminiski.
She and Hudson agreed that the chapter would need to be a good fit for the general student body at DePaul Prep. To apply and be considered “pending members” of the society, juniors and seniors had to meet certain requirements.
“There’s an essay. You have to complete a certain number of service hours. You needed ten service hours this year, but that might change as we grow. You have to have a 3.5 GPA in science courses and a 3.25 overall GPA,” Kaminiski said. “And then you have to take science all four years.”
After applications were reviewed by Kaminiski in September, around 50 students were accepted into the chapter, which signaled the establishment of DePaul College Prep’s first Science National Honors Society and added to the “more than 3,000 SNHS chapters around the nation.”
According to Kaminiski, this significant academic achievement allows DePaul Prep to be recognized by the Science National Honors Society organization as a high school that provides opportunities for “students dedicated to science [to share] that love of science with school and their outside community.”
Hudson agreed, adding that students individually receive huge amounts of recognition for their proficient skills and strong efforts in the sciences inside and outside the classroom due to their membership in the Science National Honors Society.
“When you establish a connection with that organization, it allows them to really recognize those students in a capacity that they hadn’t been recognized before,” Hudson explained. “Those kids for the first time in this school’s history are able to graduate with those cords around their necks.
Hudson believes her friends (who plan to major in nursing, psychiatry, and pre-health next year) deserve this type of attention for their longtime dedication and perseverance in the sciences. This is the factor that ultimately drove her to introduce the idea of an SNHS chapter to DePaul Prep faculty members.
“I just wanted a chapter, or a club, that was made specially for them and designed to celebrate them,” she said. “I wanted to see that representation academically, and I wasn’t.”
As a junior, Hudson made it a top priority to achieve this goal for herself, friends, and any students excelling in the subject of science who felt their success was going unnoticed.
“All of my friends are such fantastic, talented, and intelligent people,” Hudson explained. “I knew that if I could do one thing for them by the time I graduated, it was to give them something where I personally, but more importantly, the school could recognize their efforts in the fields they were passionate about.”
As the student population at DePaul College Prep continues to rise, Hudson looks forward to watching the membership in the chapter increase and with it—a passion in the field of science.
“Enrollment here is only going to continue to go up. And I’m hoping as that grows, the love of science and the love of service grows,” said Hudson. “I mean, it’s only going to get better from here.”
Hudson’s accomplishment has not only created opportunities for DePaul Prep students to pursue their science-related interests and passions at a higher level, but the society is identified as the first and only NSHS chapter to be organized at a Catholic high school in Chicago.
