On Wednesday, January 11th, five Girard College students were inducted into the National Honor Society (NHS) during a ceremony in the school’s chapel. Dr. Loretta Sweet Jemmot, Drexel University’s Vice President for Health and Health Equity, served as the ceremony’s speaker.

  Becoming a member of the NHS is no simple feat, especially at Girard College, where standards are particularly high since so few applicants are chosen. Applicants must have attended the school for at least one full semester and achieved or maintained a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Each prospective member fills out an application which goes through two rounds of consideration before a final decision is made.

  Tahji Ellison, an eleventh grader at Girard College and one of the five inductees, is a bright, determined and well-rounded student with big plans for the future. An honor-roll student who participates in a number of extracurricular activities, she works in Girard College’s technology center and takes classes at the Community College of Philadelphia as part of a dual enrollment program. Ellison wants to study business administration and finance in college in hopes of one day owning her own business or working with high-level executives in the corporate world. She is excited to be a member of the NHS. “It’s an honor to be in the National Honor Society, and it’s a chance for me to give back to my community and do things for others,” Ellison said.

Tahji Ellison, an eleventh grader at Girard College./Thomas Beck

  The four other inductees were Zimira Jackson, Stanton Hare, Reginald Morgan and Tiffany Bass. Ramiah Hughes, the sixth and final member, was inducted last year.

  Established in 1848, Girard College is located at 2101 South College Avenue on the border of Fairmount and North Central. It is a college preparatory five-day boarding school initially created for poor, white, orphaned boys only. Now it is open to any child or adolescent who, for whatever reason, does not live with both of his or her biological parents. About 300 students are currently enrolled, and each attends on a full scholarship. The school is named after Stephen Girard, a shipping magnate from France who left his entire fortune to the city of Philadelphia after he died in 1831. •