The National Junior Honor Society chapter of Roy J. Smith Middle School is a duly chartered and affiliated chapter of this prestigious national organization. Membership is open to those students who meet the required standards in five areas of evaluation: scholarship, service, leadership, character, and citizenship. Students are selected for membership by majority vote of a five-member principal-appointed faculty council, which bestows this honor upon qualified students on behalf of the faculty of our school.

Students in grade 8 are eligible for membership. We start in March of their 7th grade year to gather the information and have the induction ceremony. For the scholarship criterion, a student must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale. Each spring, those students who meet this criterion are invited to complete a Candidate Form that provides the faculty council with information regarding the candidate’s leadership and service.  

To evaluate a candidate’s character, the faculty council uses two forms of input. First, school disciplinary records are reviewed. Second, members of the faculty are solicited for input regarding their professional reflections on a candidate’s service activities, character, and leadership.

Any solicited faculty input and all Candidate Forms are carefully reviewed by the faculty council to determine membership. A majority vote of the council is necessary for selection. Candidates are notified regarding selection or non-selection according to a predetermined schedule.

Following notification, a formal induction ceremony is held at the school to recognize all the newly selected members. Once inducted, new members are required to maintain the same level of performance (or better) in all four criteria that led to their selection.