The Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School Chapter of the National Honor Society was awarded a national Outstanding Service Project Award as part of the National Honor Society Conference held in Orlando, Florida, November 3-5, 2006. Eighteen students represented Old Colony at the fourteenth annual conference.
This is the seventh time and fourth year in a row that Old Colony has received a national Outstanding Service Project Award. This year the award was received for the service project Hats Off to You! This project involved making fleece hats which were then donated to local homeless/transition shelters.
NHS members solicited donations of fleece and purchased additional material of various patterns for this project. Hat-making workshops were held after school with staff and parents volunteering their time and expertise in demonstrating how to sew and also lending a hand in creating the hats. NHS members, with help from additional students were able to complete 170 fleece hats.
Old Colony was one of ten NHS Chapters that received national awards for outstanding service to their school and community this year, and is the only chapter in the country to have won seven Outstanding Service Project awards.
Nearly 1000 National Honor Society and National Junior Honor Society members and faculty advisors from across the country participated in the National Conference held this year in Orlando, Florida. During the three-day conference, delegates attended workshop sessions on leadership, character building skills, effective student projects, and heard presentations from nationally known speakers. In addition, members networked with student leaders and advisors from schools across the nation, discussed social, educational, and political issues and exchanged ideas.
Members of the Old Colony chapter of the NHS attending the conference were: Neil Andre of Assonet, Aaron Carvalho, Jeffrey Cormier, Brandon Deneault, Ryan Pimental, Kathryn Lawton of Acushnet, Samantha Clarke, Richard Pemberton, of East Freetown, Melissa Jones of Freetown, Nicholas DeBrum, Jennifer Lewis, Corey Beecher, Kerri Ann Kauranen, Michael Poland of Lakeville, Natalie Hazen, Daniel Hurd, Zachary Card of Carver, and Alex Buckley of Rochester. The members will be accompanied by four chaperones: Mrs. Christine Watling, Mrs. Rita Bretto, Mr. Paul Sleight and Mr. Paul Brodeur.