Elaine Loft, Staff Writer
Twelve members of the Derryfield National Honor Society (NHS) volunteered on Saturday, February 10 at the Special Olympics Penguin Plunge at Hampton Beach. The Plunge is the largest fundraising event of the year for Special Olympics NH, and brings together high school students from all over the state.
SONH President and CEO Mary Conroy said, “Words just can’t express how much we appreciate the thousands of people who come together each year to either plunge, donate, volunteer, and otherwise support this spectacle.”
The ‘Four Pillars’ of the National Honor Society are scholarship, service, leadership and character. At Derryfield, students now apply for NHS membership in the spring of their junior year, which enables them to participate in group service projects throughout their senior year. In December, NHS members were offered the opportunity to work at the NH Food Bank. The Plunge marked their second service opportunity. In May, NHS members will volunteer at the Walk Against Hunger, sponsored by Families in Transition.
Charlotte Smith ‘24 said of her experience at the Penguin Plunge, “Volunteering for the Special Olympics is truly a special experience that I recommend to everyone. At this year’s Penguin Plunge, I volunteered on the beach, helping direct the plungers towards the tents to warm up after their cold plunge. I thought it was so much fun to high five the people running out of the water, and to cheer them on as they jumped into the huge waves. Everyone just seemed so happy to be there, despite being freezing cold, which I thought was the most rewarding part of the experience.”
