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The time to apply to National Art Honors Society (NAHS) had come, and most people don’t know much about it or why they should join.

While, yes, NAHS is an honors society, so you get cords to wear at graduation and it looks very good on college applications, those aren’t the only reasons to join NAHS, and they shouldn’t be your main motivation in applying.

NAHS has plenty of other amazing things to offer young artists.

“NAHS provides opportunities for students to participate in a wide variety of experiences that allow students to better understand different aspects of art career fields while having fun being creative and sharing their talents with their peers and the school community,” Said advisor Erin Bastian.

The first is that NAHS encourages artists to grow and explore new mediums, expanding their artist’s tool belt so to speak.

The new medium project is a project in which members have to create a work of art using tools they aren’t familiar with. This could be anything from clay to markers.

This year I decided to do polymer clay, and I have enjoyed the new medium so much that I plan to continue to work with it.

NAHS also has many tutorial days in which guests come in and teaches members about mediums they’ve never considered before.

For example, custodian Sylvia Bisker came in and taught students how to create gourd bird houses with intricate paintings as decoration.

“I think anyone who’s interested in art, whether it be as a career or just a hobby, should join NAHS because you’re exposed to different kinds of art, different kinds of people, and it’s a very supportive and encouraging environment,” said NAHS vice president Alyssa Davis.

Another reason you should join NAHS is the way it helps students explore the boundaries of their own creativity.

The recycled art project pushes the bounds of creativity by making students use only recycled items to create a meaningful work of art. Students use anything from newspaper, to old bottles, to plastic bags.

This year junior Sophie Castro took second place in the competition with her sculpture titled “Lost Home.”

The new medium also pushes creativity because students have to use something new and stray from what they are used to.

Students also create creative things to sell at the holiday bazaar, anything from bath bombs, to alcohol ink coaster, to hot cocoa ornaments. Members try to create something for everyone.

NAHS also helps the community in a few different ways.

The first is the mini canvas sale. Members paint mini canvases for a silent auction to benefit a charity of the club’s choice.

This year they are raising money for miniTHON.

Another interesting way the club benefits the community is through the Memory Project.

Students receive a picture of an orphan from somewhere in the world, and each student creates a portrait for them and send it back to them. We have to buy the pictures to make the portraits, so the proceeds benefit the orphanage.

At the end of the day, NAHS is a great organization that benefits its members and the community and is definitely worth joining.