Spanish Honor Society Enjoys Banner Year
As the final day of the school year approaches, members of Huntington High School’s Spanish honor society recently spent some time reflecting on their experiences over the past ten months. It’s an active group that quietly seems to get an awful lot done.
“When we consider the year in the Spanish honor society, all the members must be proud of the accomplishments of the organization,” Kieran McCarthy Fell said. The senior is the SHS historian and said the group “constantly does its utmost to improve the community of Huntington. It also aims to tie together the English and Spanish-speaking students of the high school.”
The organization pursues its goals in a variety of ways, including through social activities that allow ESL students to practice their knowledge of speaking English and encourage special education students to improve their skills in social interactions.
“I have really enjoyed being a part of them,” senior Casey Singer said about the social group. “I have looked forward to them every time, and have loved meeting all of the kids.”
“I have fun interacting with people so different from us, even if it can get awkward, and I come out of there having learned just as much as they have,” Chelsea Hines said
“The members of the Spanish honor society participate in a variety of service activities that help to better the community,” explained Ms. McCarthy Fell. “Around the holiday season, the society initiated a collection of holiday gifts for the Huntington Interfaith Homeless Initiative. Also, the numerous fundraisers for the 2009-10 year included events that benefitted HIHI, the victims of the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, and families in our own community who can use a helping hand.”
After-school bake sales are frequently utilized and are a fun way to raise money for these causes. They also allow other members of the school community to be involved in various initiatives by pursuing the delicious, and even healthy, snacks.
This year the SHS organized a project to spruce up the foreign language department offices by designing and painting a mural. Ms. Hines and senior Alexandra Kimchy, who were among several society members involved in the project, said they thought the work was “fun” and that the group “should do more artsy things like that.” The mural helped reflect the many different languages taught at the high school.
Huntington’s SHS clearly owes much of its success to the commitment of its faculty advisor, Mercedes Peña. “Without her leadership and dedication, many of the activities might not have taken place, and certainly not with the record of success of this year’s organization,” Ms. McCarthy Fell said.
Looking over the past year proved to be a positive and fruitful experience for SHS members, especially the seniors. “The social groups are really great and are a fantastic way to get involved in new things within the high school,” said senior Sara Lustberg, who served as the SHS president and is headed to the University of Michigan in the fall. “It’s so rewarding working with the ESL students and seeing how much fun they're having learning and speaking English, and they always enjoy the games we play such as Name Games, Guess Who, and Scrabble.”
Ms. Lustberg said painting the murals was “a fun activity to participate in. We painted words in all different languages in the language office. The languages included English, Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, and German, just to name a few. All the words meant ‘hello’ or ‘welcome,’ and we had a lot people in the honor society come down and help with the painting. The words looked beautiful, people got really creative and the final product looked great and definitely added a splash of color to the office.”
“I had the best of the best,” Mrs. Peña said. “These students volunteered in numerous activities and I am so proud of them.
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