Computer Science Honor Society
At Richland High School
Starting CSHS
During the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020, an upcoming Senior named Miguel Aparicio had a meeting with José Juárez, Richland High School's AP Computer Science teacher, and Mark McCanlies, who at the time was Richland's principal. This meeting would have Miguel reveal his plans to enact a chapter of the Computer Science Honor Society at Richland High School, inspired by the lack of Computer Science organizations in the Birdville school district.
In order to fully enact CSHS as an official organization, Miguel would have to get at least ten members to participate for the upcoming school year, to do that, he would reach out to members in Juárez's Discord chat (all members were participating in his AP Computer Science courses and used the chat as a means for communication during the pandemic). Luckily, Miguel would reach exactly ten members, meaning CSHS was official.
The first year of CSHS (2020-2021)
Despite all of the adversity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as the school year began, such as the majority of students staying online, or in-person school being delayed for two weeks, Miguel was able to get CSHS going, making CSHS one of the three organizations to open during the 2020-2021 year in Birdville ISD.
Bi-weekly meetings would be held on Zoom, where Miguel would talk with the few members about how they can get service hours, keeping all members intact during the school year. Because of limitations placed by the ongoing pandemic, CSHS would remain digital, where members would receive their hours through online tutoring, made easier by the Discord "chatbot" created by me that would build service tickets and log hours.
During this digital school year, the few members in CSHS would work up to roughly 135 service hours, mostly from online tutoring and assisting teachers with the transition to an online teaching platform. The member with the most service hours, 24 in total, would be me.
While Miguel Aparicio stood out for many reasons (National Merit Scholar and impressive grades), it would be his efforts in opening CSHS in a time of misfortune caused by the pandemic. Not surprisingly, his talent would be noticed by many colleges, and as such, would receive a full-ride scholarship to Caltech University through QuestBridge's National College Match.
The second year of CSHS (2021-2022)
With Miguel now off to College, the presidency role for CSHS would be left open, leaving the possibility that CSHS would die down if no one were to step in. I, however, saw the full potential in CSHS and volunteered to be the president.
Certain restrictions from the pandemic were still imminent, but many were relaxed. With almost all students returning to the face-to-face educational model, recruiting members into CSHS was easier than ever. After a month-long advertisement campaign, I was able to enlist twenty-one members for the 2021-2022 school year, more than double the member count of the previous year.
Unlike the previous year, we were able to have all members participate in several service projects, such as a community trick-or-treat event or a day-long orientation for parents new to the Birdville school district. Even necessities such as an induction for new members, and actual in-person meetings were a first, due to the digital origin of CSHS. Unfortunately, COVID-19 would still affect many decisions, such as the cancellation of an organization-wide field trip to the National Videogame Museum.
Through tutoring and service projects benefiting the community, CSHS members would beat the previous year's record of service hours by 41 hours (making 176 service hours in total for that school year).