Run by eight officers and two sponsors, Spanish Honor Society (SHS) has been a club at Bowie since 1988, the first year that the school was opened. The chapter, known as the Alfonsina Storni Chapter of Sociedad Honoraria Hispania, works as a service organization for those who value the language and culture at Bowie.

Spanish Honor Society is a society for high school students to be honored for their academic achievement that they’ve accomplished in their spanish classes. Spanish Teacher Amanda Walsh and Kelly Tagle are the sponsors for the club. 

“I wanted to be part of helping students who put in all the hard work with the study of the language just to feel rewarded,” Tagle said. “And to know that we think that’s very important and we want to celebrate them.” 

With the responsibility of being the sponsor of the group and teaching, Tagle has in exchange learned from the society as well.

“I have learned organizations like that are great especially for a big school like Bowie,” Tagle said. “And I think that  the more opportunities we have for big groups to spend time together, and sponsor friendships is so important.” 

The Spanish Honor society has been a big part of the activities and projects held at Bowie. The society has been growing and developing over the years and has now reached over 100 members. 

“As President of the society this year, I’ve really enjoyed organizing different community events and planning activities to spread the Hispanic culture and community,” Spanish Honor Society President senior Arushi Sharma said. “Some of the activities we’ve done this year is setting up a Day of the Dead Ofrenda, sharing one leader in the Hispanic Community during Hispanic Heritage Month, and other activities related to the culture.”

After students complete Spanish three, they are able to apply for the Spanish Honor Society. The society’s main focus is on community hours, based on Spanish-related opportunities.

“Through Spanish Honor Society, you’re involved in different activities to enrich and educate the community through various Hispanic/Latino cultural events and celebrations,” Sharma said. “Society is a great way for people to meet and connect with other Spanish language learners.” 

One must complete a certain amount of community hours in order to be able to wear the drape of the Spanish national honor society at graduation. In the fall, the society members did a drive to collect needed items for Casa Marianella as a way to help newly immigrated people that are looking for homes get back on their feet.

“I hope that in the future they’re [members of the society] able to continue to execute projects and not have the pandemic interfire,” Tagle said. “And I hope that they are able to do the things they wanna do with the club and not miss opportunities.” 

The society also offers tutoring to those who struggle learning the new language. The future of the society will forever be a mystery for Bowie, since the future is not certain regarding covid or anything in general. However high hopes for the future of the society still remain. 

“One of the activities we participated in is Peer Tutoring for the younger students,” Sharma said. “Our members work to help other younger underclassmen with their homework in Spanish and other assignments that they may be struggling with.” 

With running any sort of organization there will always be struggles, and difficulties to them. They may be little or they may be big, but they will always find a way to present themselves. 

“I came across very few struggles, but anytime you sponsor any group the struggle is finding the  time to be able to do everything,” Tagle said. “Meetings and coordinating with groups making it challenging to help bring projects to life.”

Overall the group allows for students that share something in common to come together and really just have a good time while still finding ways to help others.

“It’s just a great group of kids that for me personally share the love and appreciation for the language and what it has to offer and finding ways to incorporate that into helping others,” Tagle said. “It’s great to be with people who share interests.”