Caribou High School was a very busy place the afternoon of April 11, when the school’s National Honor Society hosted the NHS Northern Regional Convention, an event that brought 224 NHS members and 53 student, teacher and parent volunteers together representing National Honor Society chapters from 14 regional high schools, from Fort Kent to Southern Aroostook.
The Maine State NHS is divided up into three districts — northern, eastern and western regions. The Northern Region is the only district that holds two regional conventions each year on a rotating basis, this spring the turn fell to Caribou High School to host the gathering. A committee of several Caribou NHS members, chaired by Meredith Sleeper, Olivia Sleeper and Katie Plourde. had been working since October to organize the recent event. “This whole event was student-led and organized,” stated Kenneth Atcheson, CHS National Honor Society adviser, “and it ran like a Swiss watch — exceptionally well. I am most proud of the 47 Caribou High School NHS members, especially Olivia and Meredith Sleeper — I truly believe they could organize the Olympic Games,” he added. Atcheson also stated that he believed that the event had drawn the largest number of participants since he had been involved with NHS.
At the April 11 event, NHS members participated in activities that followed the afternoon theme of “Remember When We Were Kids,” going back to their more carefree days of elementary school. The students were divided up, wearing different tags pinned to their clothing, just like those very first days of kindergarten. The tags included yellow school buses, pink hearts, purple flowers, butterflies, blue birds, green umbrellas, school houses and of course, red apples each printed with an NHS member’s name and chapter.
Caribou NHS President Caleb Chapman welcomed the visiting NHS chapter members prior to a general meeting led by NHS Northern Regional President Holden Turner of Easton during which the annual election of regional officers took place.
Once the business portion of the spring meeting was completed the various groups of students began their journey down memory lane where they proceeded throughout the halls of CHS to activity stations that included PlayDoh and Legos; finger painting, musical chairs, parachute, 4-square, sparkle (a spelling game), name that theme song, story time with Caribou High School’s own 2012 Maine Teacher of the Year, Alana Margeson, and of course the very popular ‘snack time’ featuring lemonade and ‘ants on a log,’ aka celery sticks with real peanut butter, chocolate chips and raisins.
Indoor recess was also an option during which students played quiet games including, heads-up, 7-Up; thumb wars, tic-tac-toe and rock, paper, scissors. NHS member Meredith Sleeper served as chairperson for the games committee.
Colorful stickers were given out to each of the NHS members and blue ribbons went to the best finger-painter and the survivor of musical chairs.
Of course after a busy, full afternoon of ‘school’ the masses needed nourishment and headed to the cafeteria where they were served dinner from a favorite, old-time (although former, due to federal food service changes) elementary school-style menu. Lining up in ‘the lunch line,’ NHS members had their trays filled with real macaroni and cheese; Dino-Nuggets, Smiley-Fries, fresh fruit, white and chocolate milk, juice packs, pudding cups and bottles of water.
“Kjetil (Rossignol) gets the credit for actually coming up with the theme for the convention,” stated Olivia Sleeper, who was responsible for organizing the food for the event, among other things. “When we first started planning for the convention we knew we wanted to do something that would be really fun for the other chapters as well and this idea just really stuck out — we felt it was the perfect theme,” she added.
Sleeper continued, “Once we had our theme we just thought back to when we were little, the games we all played and we wanted to have the kid-comfort foods we all liked to have at lunchtime.”
Atcheson also commented on the delicious ‘snacks’ provided by Caribou NHS members and parents for the visiting NHS advisers during their meeting. “The food was wonderful, everything from the strawberries hand-dipped in chocolate to homemade cinnamon rolls and whoopie pies.”
“I want to recognize Caleb Chapman, Meredith and Olivia Sleeper and Haley Hunter for being our food advisers, regarding tonight’s menu and the ‘recess snacks,’ said Atcheson. “I also want say how grateful the Caribou High School NHS is to the various area businesses which have underwritten many of the costs of tonight’s dinner and the entire costs of the T-shirts for all of our volunteers.”
As the 224 Aroostook County NHS members moved from station to station throughout the halls of Caribou High School, it was evident that these young men and women were all leaders, confident in their ways — and not afraid to enjoy the ‘little kid’ that is still a very big part of them.
“I’m having a blast,” said Bonita Tidd, three-year adviser of the 28-member Houlton NHS Chapter. “This is the first time I have brought my students to anything like this, it’s great they get to meet with other chapters — met new members. I think they are really having a great time today and it’s good that there are at least two members from the same chapters in the different groups, that makes it easier for many of the students.”
Tidd also stated that the convention came at just the right time, as Houlton High School NHS held their spring inductions only the evening before. “This has given my 18 new junior class members a chance to get familiar with some of the things that are involved with being an NHS member,” she added.
Prior to the conclusion of the 2012 NHS Regional Convention the names of three members who had been voted to serve as new regional officers were announced. The 2012-13 NHS officers are Mindy Desmond of Easton, president; Emma Duplissie-Cyr of Caribou, vice president; and Lauren West of Easton, secretary.
Members of the National Honor Society serve their high schools in many ways, ranging from academic excellence and interscholastic athletics to community and civic leadership, each of these areas requiring tremendous amounts of time, energy and commitment.
The following 14 high school NHS chapters participated in the April 11 convention. Fort Kent, Madawaska, Van Buren, Wisdom, Washburn, Presque Isle, Central Aroostook, Houlton, Southern Aroostook, Limestone, Katahdin, Easton, Fort Fairfield and Caribou.
