Pictures of memories from  the past year flooded to the screen through the projector, greeting formally dressed artists at the National Art Honor Society (NAHS)’s first official banquet on Friday, May 1 in the Library Great Room. From celebrating successful volunteering to laughing with familiar faces while painting Homecoming backdrops, these memories contributed to the warmth and peace of the atmosphere. 

Being the first banquet that NAHS has ever hosted, the officers and sponsors were determined to deliver a memorable experience to the members that create the club’s creative identity. Through intentional details, including catering Chick-fil-A, gifting club pins, delivering speeches, giving awards to out-performing members, and handing out cords and certificates to graduating members, the NAHS committee aimed to make the evening memorable for the members to  show how deeply members are valued. 

“The banquet reflects the improvement in our club every year,” NAHS Sponsor Mr. Jesus Ramirez said. “We continue validating and making our accomplishments mean more by doing things like the banquet and participating more and more in things that take place around the school. I also think we’ve been doing a really good job and people have been coming to us more often for anything that’s art related and I really like that responsibility for us. We should be doing anything that requires a brush or a pencil and people should come and seek us out. I take pride in knowing that’s what we’re known for.”

Being in a room full of like-minded artists, members were reminded of the purpose behind the service they do in the club. Whether it was helping the school or local community, the members felt a sense of pride in knowing that it was all done out of a common passion to create.

“NAHS has inspired me to help others more by showing that there are avenues in volunteering that involve art and giving back to the community as a whole,” Ariana Fresques ‘26 said. “When I was a junior and looking for volunteer opportunities, none of them really hit home for me, but using art as a way to volunteer is definitely very personal to me.”

As members enjoyed Chick-fil-A nuggets and macaroni and cheese, they respectfully looked up and listened to the officers and sponsors deliver  speeches from the podium. In reflection of the volunteering initiatives as a whole, the speeches highlighted dedication, creativity in helping others, and engaging in team work the most.

“Being a part of NAHS has really helped me a lot with being part of a team of creative thinkers,” Maya Kamalaldin ‘27 said. “I’ve never been involved in that kind of group before and this  teamwork helped me rethink how to reconstruct art with other people alongside me. It’s helped me get to know them better and trust them when we’re doing projects or volunteering.” 

Once seniors were given their chords and certificates, chocolate cake engraved with the NAHS logo was served as members watched a slideshow of pictures illuminating from the projector as they laughed and reminisced with each other about memorable volunteering moments. The members left the banquet feeling fulfilled by the ways in which they used their artistic talents to help others throughout the year and inspired to continue to branch out further in the future.

“With the Blanton Museum of Art field trip, Ms. Gross and I were trying to see what it entailed to do a field trip,” Mr. Ramirez said. “So now that we understand all the formalities that take place, like getting the bus, filling out the paperwork, and paying for it all, we can now push out further. We want to try to get out of town, and then out of the state, and eventually even out of the country. So we gotta push ourselves to branch out further and further from just volunteering in Austin so that we continue expressing our values as a group of artists that want to help the community at a larger scale through their skills and heart.”