When our chapter was established (1977), the Asesora thought to buy a leather-bound blank book. In the thirty-one years we have inducted students, all new members have signed their name and graduation year on a page highlighted with the date of their induction ceremony. We have them sign right after they “light” their candle [we’re not allowed to do that any longer because of the fire laws in VA, but in honor of the ceremony, we pretend to do so] and before they return to their seats. It is very impressive to consider that they are part of such a long tradition at our school!

If anyone would like the ceremony papers that we use, I’d be happy to send them along to you in an e-mail:
dcollado@k12albemarle.org.

Denise A. Collado, Ed. D.

According to the charter of SHH, students who are sophomores in level two or higher are eligible so we had to open up membership opportunities to those students to be in synch with the “rules” — normally, we only inducted students in level 3 and higher. I keep a window of opportunity (and NOW it is in our local charter) that I accept nominations from students (they self-nominate, but their eligibility is verified by their current Spanish teacher) ONLY from January 15th through the last day of February at the close of school. Otherwise, you’ll have kids come to you two days before the induction ceremony and parents who go all the way to the Superintendent (that happened to me last year) about making an exception and getting their students “in”. I have soft copies of lots of my forms and flyers. Anyone who would like to see them can e-mail me at dcollado@k12albemarle.org.

I also have every student provide an e-mail address and my secretary sends out announcements about projects, activities and meeting times — we DON’T have a set meeting time every month because our schedule rotates — so that every student knows what’s up. We also have an SHH bulletin board outside my classroom where I post the same information. Students in our school are probably as busy as yours, so I require participation in FIVE activities each year, only TWO of which (the Thanksgiving baskets and attendance at the May induction ceremony) are required. Our first meeting in September/October is an organizational meeting. I give students their ID cards (they are the size of a credit card and have a box to sign off for attendance at all Fall semester meetings or activities. Then at the bottom, there are sixteen small boxes. Each represents 15 minutes service time (students are required to do four hours service to the Spanish department or community each term) which sponsoring teachers initial to verify that students have served: tutoring, grading quizzes, filing papers, etc. We do a Thanksgiving food basket project for the Mexican migrant community and provided 26 baskets worth $85 each this year. In December we do one big Honor Society Holiday bash for students in ANY honor society, because many of our students are involved in more than one. Students who provide refreshments get credit for 2 events. In January when kids are busy closing out the first semester, we do a warm clothing drive and provided a truck bed of bagged clean clothing — sweaters, socks, gloves, hats, work shirts and thermal underwear, both new and slightly used for the same families. In the spring we go to a local Mexican restaurant as a group, show a Spanish-language movie and have a guest speaker for February, March and April.

I maintain an Excel spreadsheet of the names of the new inductees (with their names, current Spanish teacher, grades for their previous work and the date that they submitted their application and checks to me) as a check list. I use this same list when I send the names and fees to SHH headquarters. I keep a second spreadsheet for maintaining records of who has completed all requirements each year of membership — I cull out those who don’t work as juniors and then as seniors come looking for their honor cords at graduation — with their attendance records and their service hours marked. I give out their ID cards for second semester when they turn in their card for first semester (you can print about a dozen on a sheet of card stock).

I have opened a hotmail account (ahs_shh@hotmail.com) from which I send all the SHH emails. It makes it easier to organize. My secretary takes care of sending messages to the appropriate students. That also keeps my school e-mail clean from SHH stuff.

Those are all the things I can think of — oh, yeah, we can’t REALLY do the proper candle lighting ceremony because of the fire regulations, so we no longer light our beautiful red candles and put them into our gold mother candle at the ceremony, but we do a nice job of pretending! All in all, it’s a wonderful service organization!

Denise A. Collado, Ed. D.
Albemarle H. S.
Charlottesville, VA
Capítulo Velázquez

¡Albricias! is not an on-line publication. It is published 4 times a year and a copy is sent to the sponsor of every active chapter of the SHH. We sell additional copies for $5.00 an issue to anyone who would like to have a copy. If you would like one, send a check for $5.00 made out to Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica to P.O. Box 5318, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089-5318

¡Todos a una!

Judy Park