Founded in 1913, the Beehive Honor Society is a U award that recognizes a select group of graduating seniors each year.
Founded by Otlinger Romney, who was editor of The Utah Chronicle at the time, and Hamilton Gardner, then-Student Body President, the award began as a “Senior Society.” It was designed to reward students “who put ambition, concentration and perspiration into student activities.”
Membership was limited to six men and one woman per year. Gender was lopsided due to greater number of activities available to men than women. Currently, 15-20 applicants are inducted with no restrictions placed on gender.
Cassie Timpson, program coordinator, says the society now uses a holistic approach and takes into account all aspects of an applicant’s academic and extracurricular activities.
The award used to run on a point system where participants were given an amount of points for various activities such as being a part of the football team (30 points), 20 for basketball, 40 for being a varsity debate team member and 30 for being ASUU President. All three years were totaled at the end of an applicant’s junior year. From the top ten scores, the previous year’s inductees chose seven new members. One of the original inductees, M. Alonzo Romney participated in football, basketball, baseball, served on the prom committee and was an editor for the Chronicle.
Now, the process has been changed to have new members chosen by the Beehive Honor Society Board. An average of 80 applications are received annually.
“On average, new members have a GPA of 3.5 or higher,” Timpson said.
“Diverse” academic performance is important, but some new inductees might be chosen because their involvement on campus in various organizations rounds out their application.
New members of the Beehive Honor Society receive a medallion to wear at graduation and their membership is listed on their transcript.
Gail Ellison, current board president, said it’s a great networking opportunity.
“It’s nice when people come up to you and say that they are members of the Society also and you can have that connection,” Ellison said.
Ellison said there is a push on the board to become more involved and connected by a newsletter and more community outreach.
“Right now, it’s more of an honor thing,” Ellison said. “We’re planning on a service project for new members to do alongside older Society members to help them connect.”
This year’s applications are due Feb. 5 by 5 p.m. For more information about applications and the Beehive Honor Society’s history, visit: http://ulink.utah.edu/s/1077/index.aspx?sid=1077&gid=1&pgid=480.
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