On April 3, the Boston Latin School chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS) hosted a Baked Goods Bingo event for its members to provide a community service opportunity for it’s members and a sweet game for the School.
In the dining hall, NHS officers set up the game area with a display of the dessert prizes, along with individual bingo cards. As the officers called out winning numbers, students who reached five in a row were able to pick a number from a lottery bag that corresponded to a homemade treat.
The event was open to any student who wanted to participate. Jialiang Zhu (II), one of the winners, comments, “It’s a really nice way to connect with the community and just bring kids together and have some fun after school.”
To increase engagement, officers decided to get rid of the original two-dollar participation fee and make the game free of charge. Baked Goods Bingo was initially a fundraiser for future activities, including the De-Stress Fest, one of NHS’s more famous and costly events.
NHS Community Service Coordinator Charlotte Wall (I) first came up with the idea when remembering her time at a summer sailing camp in Maine, recalling, “They would host ice cream socials and Baked Goods Bingo, which was one of my favorites because my grandma and I would bake something together.”
Baked Goods Bingo is part of a larger effort to ensure that NHS members fulfill their community service requirements of three service events per year. NHS recognizes students who embody the core values of integrity, involvement and achievement. Students who are active members in their community and have demonstrated high academic performance are eligible to apply. The applications are evaluated by a committee led by NHS faculty advisor and BLS Classics teacher Mr. Patrick Finnigan.
Once sworn in at the induction ceremony, members are expected to uphold these values by participating in service activities. NHS Treasurer Abri Dumel (I) shares, “This year, we’re trying to get a lot more engagement from the BLS community and the outside community to get all our members to fill their services.”
NHS recently hosted other events, including a Halloween fundraiser selling trick-or-treat goodie bags, a Loco for the Cocoa fundraiser selling hot chocolate kits, Kindle Kindness passing out candles and treats for service workers and an origami crane-making event with BLS Origami Club and The Wishing Cranes Project for the Boston Children’s Hospital.
Behind each of these events is strenuous preparation and logistical coordination. NHS officers have routine meetings with Mr. Finnigan to plan service opportunities for its members in addition to putting in their own time to ensure that everything will run smoothly.
Compared to past years, there was a higher number of accepted students in the Class of 2025. As a result of the increased demand, more events have been held this year. The elected officers have furthermore developed close-knit relationships throughout the year, encouraging them to acknowledge students’ needs.
While calling out the winning numbers of the Baked Goods Bingo, Wall concludes, “We still got plenty of participation from our members, and that makes me very proud of them. I’m glad we were still able to bring people together.”