The National Spanish Honor Society (NSHS) held its induction ceremony on Thursday, Feb. 2 following its latest round of applications. Chosen by a grade-based process, newly accepted members met to formally be accepted into the Westwood’s Diego Velázquez chapter of NSHS, named after a pioneering Spanish painter.

The ceremony was conducted solely in Spanish, with handouts in English for guests to follow along. Following short speeches by the officers, inductees each received a lit candle. After a recitation of the poem Arte Poética and swearing the induction oath, members blew out the candles as a symbol of their induction and officially joined the organization. Afterwards, attendees enjoyed refreshments and were able to talk with the officers and sponsor, spanish teacher Ms. MilyBett Llanos-Gremillion, before leaving.

“Especially in Texas, there’s a very large Spanish-speaking population,” new member Helen Fang ‘19 said. Fang decided to apply in order to gain a better understanding of the Austin community as a whole. “It’s important to learn the language and be able to connect with more people.”

The ceremony was not only important to new recruits, but to returning members as well. With new members and new ideas, NSHS hopes to continue to grow and better service its community.

“Last year, I was a new inductee,” club treasurer Mayurika Gupta ‘18 said. “We had new ideas across the club. There was one idea where we had a breakfast where people could come and talk in Spanish. In inductees, we just look for somebody who cares about Spanish and would like to help others with that Spanish.”

New members will be expected to contribute to community service and further their knowledge of Spanish culture and language. Through their efforts, NSHS hopes that they will both improve personally and make a positive impact on those around them.

“I thoroughly enjoy being a part of the Spanish Honor Society and really what drives me to continue doing this is being able to hang out with these young people,” Ms. Llanos-Gremillion said. “They’re academically driven, they have good hearts, and a lot of times, they work really hard to achieve what you see here tonight. They’re the ones that motivate me, not the other way around.”