National Art Honors Society (NAHS) kicked off their new school year with the first meeting held on September 10.

Last year, NAHS participated in and planned many activities.

The first activity was the chalk mural contest at the York Fair in September; mostly returning members participated, but a few first-year members also participated. Sadly, the group didn’t place.

Next was the induction ceremony in November. All members created two pieces of artwork that was put on display during the ceremony and each member received a pin and a certificate.

The next two projects took a bit more work on both the members and adviser Erin Bastian.

The students began working on their submissions for the holiday bizarre. The holiday bizarre is an event that NAHS hosts where they sell student-made items for a week in December to raise money for the club.

Students had to create at least two different items and make multiples of each to sell at the bizarre. Some items included, bath supplies from then senior Makayla Phoebus, resin products from then senior Jack Gaul, and stickers from then senior Austin Freund.

Members sold any left over items from the holiday bizarre at the Breakfast with Santa event.

At the same time, Bastian gave the students the choice to participate in the Memory project that would be due in January. The Memory project is a project in which students create portraits of children in tragic situations and send them to those children. Last year, the members created portraits of children in Syrian refugee camps.

Find more information on the memory project here.

Later in the year, NAHS hosts an annual mini canvas silent auction to benefit a charity or group of their choice. Every year they switch between benefitting a school organization and a community organization. Last year, the event raised $600 for the Sunshine fund here at school.

For the mini canvas event, Bastian encouraged students to make at least one canvas, though most members made at least two. She also invited teachers to paint canvases for the event.

NAHS also entered the recycled art project competition. This is a competition in which students create artwork using recycled or items donated to a recycling place called refindings. Five members participated last year by making an elaborate sculpture. The group entered did not place.

Lastly, the NAHS members participated in running the District Art Show, including screen printing shirts with designs requested by customers to be sold.

“[Overall,] I feel like more NAHS/Art Club time could’ve been used to encourage other members to participate in those events (the ones that weren’t mandatory, like Recycled Art) so that the people who were working on those projects weren’t overwhelmed or stressed out too much,” said current vice president Alyssa Davis.

According to Bastian and Davis, the most successful event last year was the Holiday Bizarre and the Breakfast with Santa sale as they brought in the most money and the items were well made.

Out of all of the activities, Bastian said, “Our NAHS students most enjoy participating in the Memory Project.”

For this year, officers added some more events to the list of events that NAHS plans and participates in.

The first is a stationary and Identification (ID) accessory sale starting September 18 and ending September 24. The items will be sold during lunches.

The second being a T-shirt sale at the Homecoming football game. The students will each be creating a design that they will be screen printing on shirts to sell.

NAHS will also not be participating in the Chalk Mural Contest this year as it was cancelled.

Despite these changes, Davis still says the biggest change is new members, “The difference between this year and last year is the amount of people. This year, there are a lot more new members, which is good.”

Gallery • 8 Photos

Photo by: Erin Bastian