Colonia High School currently has six honor societies, including Rho Kappa, which is the National Social Studies Honor Society, 45 of Colonia’s seniors were inducted as members.
Colonia High School’s seniors are eligible to be accepted into Rho Kappa if they have at least an A- GPA overall and at least an A- average for each history class they’ve taken up to U.S. History II, meaning that only seniors can be considered for eligibility. Students are also required to volunteer for at least one community service in order to be considered, which allows for the students to be more involved in the community. Each year, new members are inducted after it is seen that they meet these requirements.
Rho Kappa was founded in Florida in 2011 by Fort Meyers High School. There mission is to promote scholarships along with academic excellence, to promote social studies in the community, and encourage the understanding of history. The Rho Kappa charter at CHS must renew its charter each year with a $75 fee. Each member inducted is pays a $5 induction fee. The National Rho Kappa advisory council follows a constitution and contains 6 members that serve for three years.
The idea of starting a chapter of Rho Kappa at Colonia High School was brought upon after a suggestion from a former student back in 2013. Colonia High School’s history teacher and basketball coach, Mr. Drew Biri, currently runs Colonia’s chapter of Rho Kappa and has ran it since it began. This is the honor society’s first official year, as last year was considered to be a test run. “[Rho Kappa] is very community oriented and it feels good to give back to people who have helped us,” stated Rho Kappa member Paige Nonnenmacher.
Being a member of Rho Kappa not only gives more opportunities for the member’s futures, but also allows for the members to help the community as well. The honor society is involved with several community associations, including the Woodbridge Library and the Veterans Alliance. The Veterans Alliance provides information to veterans about benefits that they are entitled to under state law but they may not know exists. Currently, Rho Kappa member John Fantell is helping to gather information from different American Legion Posts around the township to provide local veterans with this information on benefits and it will be put onto one convenient website. “The idea here is to really get veterans to be part of the American Legion and to gather information from the different posts and to use that information to [benefit the veterans],” commented Fantell.
Rho Kappa has also done fundraisers to raise money for trips to places like Washington D.C. and New York City, and this year they have plans on going to Washington D.C. Fundraisers that are being conducted include a salsa fundraiser that is currently under go and possibly a t-shirt fundraiser that may take place later this year. The money raised with these fundraisers also goes towards things such as donations to the Wounded Warrior Project and other organizations. The Wounded Warrior Project is an organization that helps war veterans after they’ve returned from war. Their main goal is to help and empower Wounded Warriors.
This year, Colonia’s Rho Kappa Cabinet consists of five seniors, Dina Rezk (President), Nicholas Filzen (Vice President), Jennifer Mulrooney (Secretary), Nonnenmacher (Treasurer), and Samantha Czapik (Event Coordinator). Each member of the Cabinet was voted by their fellow Rho Kappa members in order to obtain their titles. They each play a key role in everything the honor society does and help it run efficiently. “It is an amazing feeling to make a difference in the lives of others”, commented Czapik.
