BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Bradford High School and the North Florida Technical College’s newly formed National Technical Honor Society chapter welcomed its first members during a ceremony on April 18.
North Florida Technical College Director Brad Bishop said the new members have demonstrated good citizenship, high moral character, and a superior work ethic.
“They must maintain an average of 90% in all of their CTE programs,” he said. “The National Technical Honors Society does not look at your academic courses. However, it does focus on career and technical education.”
Bishop said that since 1984, over a million members of the National Technical Honor Society, like the Bradford students, have been recognized, and the national organization awards nearly $300,000 in scholarships annually.
The college’s digital design instructor, Steven Djavaheri, introduced the new chapter officers: Treasurer Levi Lowe, Governor Jake Gegeus, Historians Elizabeth Wagner, Christine Reaves, Kiley Boulris and Cameron Newman, Vice President Martin Reaves, and President Paige Steed.
The four students said the national society fosters academic excellence, leadership, and service among its members. They said the organization helps students who are passionate about healthcare, criminal justice, culinary arts, digital design, information technology, and other fields.
“It serves as the starting point for progress,” Newman said of the organization. “In our ever-evolving society, NTHS not only prepares us for successful careers but also helps us with the tools to become leaders in our respective industries.”
Steed and Martin Reaves then led the new inductees in a candlelight ceremony where members simulated passing a flame from one candle to the next using battery-powered candles.
The candles represented the attributes of society members: skill, honesty, service, responsibility, scholarship, citizenship, and leadership.
The other members of the new chapter include Landon Coleman, Jayden Daugherty, Koen Reddish, Hayden Paris, Jackson Miller, and Victoria Gonzalez.
After the ceremony, the chapter president and vice president, both digital design students, said that although they did not plan to make digital design a career, both felt the skills gained through the curriculum would help them advance in their chosen vocations.
Steed said she planned to work for her father, a painter, immediately following graduation and then study psychology. She added that she might use her design skills to build her father’s business website.
Martin Reeves said he planned to study engineering beginning at Santa Fe College and continuing at the University of Florida. He added that he loves working with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to improve photos and communicate concepts.
