What is National Technical Honor Society all about? NTHS is an honor society dedicated to recognizing excellence in career and technical education.
The NTHS Mission is: To honor student achievement and leadership in career and technical education, promote educational excellence, award scholarships, and enhance career opportunities for the NTHS membership.
The NTHS Vision is: To be the international leader in providing recognition for excellence in career and technical education.
The organization serves over 4,000 schools, including high schools, career tech centers, community colleges and private institutions. With the home office based in North Carolina, there are over 350 chapters. The national headquarters is located in Flat Rock, across the street from the campus of Blue Ridge Community College. NTHS has chapters in all 50 states, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.
So, how and why did NTHS get started? Here’s a brief history of the organization.
The story of NTHS began in 1984 in Inman, South Carolina, at the H.B. Swofford Career Center. Center Director Allen Powell and guidance counselor Jon Poteat saw a critical need to bring recognition to skilled students, and to overturn the negative image of vocational and technical education. Fueled by a compelling desire to recognize their deserving students and build a stronger, more positive image for their programs and school, National Vocational-Technical Honor Society was founded in December of 1984. Chapter 0001 is H.B. Swofford Career Center.
Mr. Powell and Mr. Poteat continued to promote NV-THS, build a Board of Directors, and enlist schools and sponsors. Gradually, career-tech centers, high schools and colleges joined forces with the Society. They too wanted to recognize their high-achieving students and build a better image for their students and schools.
In 1999, NV-THS relocated to the campus of Blue Ridge Community College. In 2003, the National Board of Directors unanimously agreed to change the name of the organization from the National Vocational-Technical Honor Society to the National Technical Honor Society to reflect the views of business and industry toward students in skilled trades.
The current headquarters on Airport Road in Flat Rock was built in 2007 on land purchased from the BRCC Foundation, just across the street from the college. The staff of 10 is led by the Executive Director, Allen Powell. Mr. Poteat passed away in 2000, and the Jon H. Poteat Scholarship was founded in his name and memory.
Our scholarship history is pretty amazing. In 1997, NTHS Board Member Steve Greene gave the first $1000 needed to start a scholarship account with the Spartanburg County Foundation. For the next eight years, the growth of the fund depended entirely on donations from board, friends and fundraising efforts.
In 2005, NTHS awarded the first scholarships. That year, only four $500 scholarships were awarded, but that was just the beginning. Just two short years later, in 2007, a total of $25,000 in scholarship monies went to NTHS members. To date, NTHS has awarded over $2 million dollars in scholarships, between our own Jon H. Poteat scholarship, our partnered Career-Tech student organizations, and through our Alumni Association.
So, how do students become NTHS members and take advantage of scholarships and other benefits?
Membership dues are a one-time fee. Students must meet the criteria of having an overall minimum required GPA and program average, must complete a 2-year Career Tech program, and must be a current member of their Career Tech Student Organization. Student member candidates must also embody the 7 attributes of NTHS – Leadership, Scholarship, Skills, Honesty, Citizenship, Service and Responsibility.
Member benefits include a newly designed custom portfolio, which has an ID card, custom certificate, white tassel with NTHS drop, lapel pin, window decal and a seal to be affixed to their certificate or diploma at graduation.
Members can log in and apply for our scholarships, as well as request letters of recommendation and use our online career center. In 2016, our board approved scholarships totaling over a quarter-million dollars.
The recent partnership with Express Pro Staffing offers our members a series of free videos to assist them with finding job opportunities, resume writing and interviewing skills.
Letters of recommendation are a very powerful benefit. Members can download and print a general letter of recommendation for their portfolio, as well as request custom letters to be used when applying for a job, a scholarship or to a college. Letters are signed by our executive director and sent to whom the member specifies. It’s powerful when they go in for an interview, and the interviewer already has a letter of recommendation from a national organization!
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