SCIENCE NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY

Leesburg SNHS: Continuing a Legacy of One Cleanup at a Time

by Barath Balaji, President, Grade 12, 3rd Year in SNHS

Group picture of Leesburg SNHS — not all members pictured. Five officers in front, from left to right: Treasurer Vu, Secretary Ana, President Barath, Vice President Kayla, and Media Relations Angela

For the 2024–2025 academic year, Leesburg High School’s Science National Honor Society (SNHS) was led by a strong officer team: President Barath Balaji, Vice President Kayla Nord, Secretary Ana Montealegre, Media Relations Angela Serna, Treasurer Vu Phan, and our dedicated sponsor, Ms. Durham. With 51 active members, we prioritized effective delegation, clear communication, and meaningful service, all aligning with SNHS’s pillars of scholarship, leadership, service, and character. Our leadership team hosted monthly full body meetings to keep members informed, along with monthly officer meetings to evaluate progress, plan events, and share feedback. We maintained consistent communication through Instagram (@leesburg.snhs), the Remind App, and Google Classroom to post meeting slides, upcoming projects, and member shoutouts.

Our highlight event was a collaborative beach cleanup at Daytona Beach with The Villages High School STEM Team. Together, we collected 487 bottle caps and about 1,000 pieces of trash across two miles!🌀🌊🌎🚮 Earlier in the year, we conducted our own beach cleanup for International Coastal Cleanup Day, collecting 17 pounds of trash. Locally, we cleaned the lakefront behind our school’s Building 5, gathering 15 bags of litter. We also partnered with Leesburg Key Club for a campus beautification project targeting areas behind buildings and football stands.

Community care and environmental impact were central to our projects. We organized a food and toiletry drive, donating over 35 nonperishable items to the Leesburg Florida Food Bank. In December, we led a clothing drive and donated 40 items, including jackets, blankets, hoodies, and new socks, to New Life Church’s ‘The Little House’. Members also made paper snowflake decorations for Leesburg Avante Nursing Home during the Christmas season. Recently, for Earth Week, we offered a variety of incentives to members who participated, creating fun ways to increase engagement within the club.

Annual Recap #1: Two beach cleanups, Avante Nursing Home decorations, Earth Day poster, Trunk or Treat, lake cleanups, end-of-year party, Leesburg Food Bank donations, Envirothon competition, and monthly full body meetings.

We compete annually in the Lake County Regional Envirothon at Lake Hiawatha Preserve. Envirothon is an environmental science competition that covers topics on Forestry, Soil, Aquatics, Wildlife, and Current Events. Through officer-led group study sessions using Gimkit and assigned study materials, one of our school teams earned third place across schools in Lake County this year.

To maintain engagement, we offer food and beverages at quarterly, mid-year, and final-year meetings, as well as field trips to Florida springs for active members. Members earn volunteer hours for each project, with a minimum number of service credits required each semester. This helps ensure involvement and motivates seniors to earn their regalia. Inactive members are placed on probation with prior notice. While on probation, members are ineligible for perks like field trips or awards due to unmet minimum attendance requirements, insufficient service credits, or unpaid dues. Continued inactivity results in removal from the chapter. To avoid this, members had at least two monthly opportunities to stay in good standing.

Annual Recap #2: New Life Church’s ‘The Little House’ donations, canned food drive items, freshmen orientation, Holloway Foundation Arbor Day, member shoutouts, and monthly officer meetings.

We held officer elections for the 2025–2026 school year, ensuring smooth leadership transition and continued chapter growth. Leesburg SNHS is proud of this year’s achievements and looks forward to seeing next year’s officers build on our legacy.

Officers for the 2024–2025 School Year

A Year-In-Review: SNHS at American Nicaraguan School

by Marlon Cruz, 10th grade, Elected Treasurer 2025-2026

SNHS members observing the wonders of the sky. Nov, 2024

As we wrap up the 2024-2025 school year, our SNHS chapter is proudly concluding a productive period of time.

The year started with the induction of 12 new members, all of whom joined the existing members to attend a welcoming astronomical event in November 2024. To make this possible, we invited the representatives of the “Asociación Nicaragüense de Astrónomos Aficionados ‘Carl Sagan’ - ANASA”. The event started in the evening, with a very interesting and interactive presentation called “Observing the Sky From Earth”, where members had the opportunity to engage in the conversations, by both asking and answering questions. After the presentation had concluded, we moved to an outdoor area where the representatives of ANASA set up four telescopes: Celestron 4-inch, Celstron SE 6-inch, Dobson 10-inch, Dobson 12-inch. These telescopes ensured that our viewing experience was exciting as we could see the wonders of the night sky, so this was truly a star-studded night!

Dr. René Urroz Alvarez, Director of ANASA, presenting the talk "Observing the sky from the Earth". Nov, 2024

Throughout the year, we also celebrated several international science-related days. Mole day on October 23, 2024, on which we commemorate Avogadro’s number in order to foster interest in chemistry, and two United Nations observance days, Clean Energy day on January 26, 2025, on which we raise awareness for a just transition to clean energy sources for the benefit of people and the planet, and Women and Girls in Science day on February 11, 2025, on which we promote the equal participation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields. For all of these dates, we created murals that represented them.

International Day of Clean Energy mural created by SNHS members. Jan, 2025.

On March 20, 2025, we held our formal closing event by inviting Dr. Alejandra Martinez, who has a PhD in Natural Resources. She gave a talk where she presented her research on the importance of conserving biodiversity in agricultural land. This was a wonderful and insightful way of learning about mutualistic relationships among different species.

Director of the Latin American Chair of Natural Forests at CATIE Costa Rica, Dr. Alejandra Martinez, presenting the talk "Biodiversity conservation in agricultural Landscapes: Why should we Care?" as a closing event for our chapter. March, 2025.

Lastly, we bid farewell to our 12th grade members, who will embark on a new chapter of their lives to study at different universities, including the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.

With this year in the books, we are now looking forward to working alongside our new officers during the next school year in which we will continue to plan and conduct activities as a part of fulfilling our mission of “Promoting the passion for science, school-wide, through inquiry and experimentation in the pursuit of understanding natural phenomena”.

DNA Day at Lowell Catholic High School

by Hannah Espinola, SNHS Vice President, Grade 12

Junior, Serena Matthews and seniors, Sofia Pescatore & Jack Griffin pictured with our DNA day creations!

Here at Lowell Catholic, we love celebrating DNA day. Since DNA Day 2025 fell during our spring break, we've decided to celebrate a little early this year! Our SNHS chapter met and decided that we not only wanted to host a school-wide nucleotide craft activity, but also create a life-sized DNA molecule!

In years past, we’ve celebrated DNA Day with a craft activity, and this year, a few of our members were eager to bring that tradition back. We wanted this year’s nucleotide craft activity to involve everyone at our school — not just the high schoolers.

To kick things off, each SNHS member was assigned to a classroom or advisory group, where they led a fun and creative session. Every student colored and personalized their own nucleotide. Afterward, the SNHS members collected the finished nucleotides, took them home to cut and assemble, and then returned with long strands ready to build our giant DNA model.

Later that week, a few members stayed after school to decorate our science building with these gorgeous creations. We hung the strands on our Christmas trees and wrapped them around the pillars in our lobby. Just as DNA is made up of many essential pieces, so too is our LC family — each student an important part of the whole. It was a wonderful way to show that our school wouldn’t be the same without every single one of us. Plus, it was so much fun to have our entire community, even the elementary students, take part in the DNA Day celebration!

But we didn’t stop there. Our SNHS team decided to take it a step further and launch a second project for DNA Day. Inspired to create something even bigger and more memorable than our nucleotide garlands, we dreamed up a bold new idea: a life-sized DNA molecule!

Several SNHS members, who also run our engineering club, volunteered to lead the charge. They met after school to brainstorm and design the project, coming up with a plan that involved using pool noodles, wooden dowels, and a coat rack to bring their vision to life. After weeks of careful planning and teamwork, the result was a colorful, six-foot-tall DNA sculpture — a true masterpiece and a vibrant expression of our love for DNA at Lowell Catholic!

Here is an up close view of our colorful nucleotides and take a look at how festive our trees look!

Mother McAuley Science National Honor Society Hosts 3rd Annual “Macs Walk for A Cure” Breast Cancer Awareness Walk

by Evie Skog, Co-President SNHS Chapter &Addison Haywood, SNHS Chapter Officer

Mother McAuley President Carey Harrington, SNHS Co-Presidents Evie Skog and Brynn Peloquin, and Chapter Advisors Mary Ellen Clifford and Janet Wilson stand with a CBS News Reporter. (Left to right)

Mother McAuley's Science National Honor Society hosted its 3rd Annual "Macs Walk for A Cure" Breast Cancer Awareness event in October! With the support of 100+ students attending the walk and over $2,000 donated to the Y-Me Softball Tournament Organization, the walk broke McAuley's records in engagement and success! More specifically, all proceeds went to further breast cancer research at the University of Chicago under Dr. Kay Macleod. 

Weeks of planning and hard work allowed for the walk to be a success. In particular, the leadership and dedication of the Science National Honor Society moderators, Jan Wilson and Mary Ellen Clifford, as well as officers Evie Skog, Brynn Peloquin, Addison Haywood, Julianna Sweiss, Gigi Goyer, and Grace Kearns, allowed the event to be possible. Our officers designed pink t-shirts with the phrase “Macs Walk for a Cure” on the back with a pink ribbon. Additionally, Social Media Officer Addison Haywood and Co-President Evie Skog created creative and trendy videos for our official social media page, @mothermcauley_snhs, promoting the walk and t-shirt sales. Moreover, Co-President Brynn Peloquin gave promotional speeches during all lunch periods, sharing information about the walk and the charity being donated to. Finally, a committee of 14 SNHS members created posters and pink ribbons to sell to the student body. 

Despite the early morning, the excitement from the turnout of students was palpable. As attendees walked laps around McAuley’s new turf field, clad in their pink attire, smiles and words of encouragement were shared. It was clear that the McAuley community felt empowered to do their part in furthering advancements in breast cancer research and care and to support fellow women in their battle with this disease. As the event drew to an end and students prepared to head back to class, the Mother McAuley Mother’s club set out a table with doughnuts and bananas to fuel the start of the day.  

Cumulatively, Mother McAuley Science National Honor Society’s hard work paid off, garnering attention from CBS News Chicago and the Beverly Review, which featured interviews from Mother McAuley Science National Honor Society’s Co-Presidents, Brynn and Evie, as well as McAuley’s President, Carey Harrington. The walk was a clear demonstration of our Society’s commitment to giving back to our community and supporting women's health initiatives. The “Macs Walk for a Cure” is one of our Society’s most important events, and we are excited to continue it for years to come!

SNHS Macs Walk for a Cure #2: Mother McAuley SNHS Student Leadership Board and Chapter Advisors. Janet Wilson, Addison Haywood, Grace Kearns, Gigi Goyer, Evie Skog, Brynn Peloquin, Julianna Sweiss, Mary Ellen Clifford. (Left to right)

SNHS Macs Walk for a Cure #3: Mother McAuley students Walking for a Cure.

SNHS Macs Walk for a Cure #4: Mother McAuley Walk Participants

By Jennifer Adorno, SNHS Chapter Advisor

Science As a Vehicle for Personal Development

On the Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico, the Colegio Maristas Guaynabo is part of the Science National Honor Society. This chapter, consisting of approximately 25 active members, promot es knowledge and enthusiasm for science through various community activities. Among the active members are President Inés López and Treasurer Alejandro Tiragallo, who are prominent leaders in coordinating activities during the school year. The Society’s passion for science is evident in its commitment to sharing its love for this discipline with the public.

One of the chapter's main initiatives is participating in the Science Festival, organized by the American Chemical Society (ACS) at the Paseo de la Princesa in San Juan. This event brings together multiple scientific institutions to offer an enriching educational experience to hundreds of visitors. Through interactive experiments and hands-on activities tailored to different levels of understanding, attendees can explore scientific concepts in an entertaining and accessible manner.

In addition to their involvement in large-scale events, the chapter also focuses on activities aimed at younger audiences. A notable example is the visit to the preschool center, where chapter members present scientific experiments designed explicitly for pre-kindergarten children. These visits aim to foster a genuine interest in science from an early age. The children greatly enjoy these activities, which allow them to engage with scientific concepts playfully and educationally. As guides and facilitators, the chapter members make science accessible and exciting for the youngest, serving as scientific role models.

Another highlighted aspect of our Society is the academic component. Students are required to conduct research during the school year and present it at the school's local science fair. During their research, both integrity and ethical considerations are evaluated. Such research is presented to the school community during Science Week.

Moreover, the chapter organizes excursions to the forest, allowing members to explore nature and understand its importance. These expeditions are educational and foster a deeper appreciation for the environment. By observing ecosystems firsthand, members gain insights into biodiversity, conservation, and the delicate balance of natural habitats. These experiences underscore the interconnectedness of all living things and highlight science's critical role in preserving our planet.

Overall, this chapter's commitment not only translates into the promotion of scientific knowledge but also in the development of leadership qualities among its members and selfless service to the community. Their exemplary work emphasizes the positive impact that a dedicated scientific education can have on shaping future leaders in science and promoting scientific understanding within Puerto Rican Society. The chapter's diverse activities not only engage young children in exploring natural environments but also demonstrate a holistic approach to scientific education that benefits each member and their community.

Chapter trip to Cañón San Cristobal

ACS Festival: Alejandra Suarez, Diego Santiago, Alexandra Méndez, and Melissa Hernandez

Having fun with experiments activity.

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