Pictured, from left, Zach Freel, Eli Snep, Emalee Duggins, Anna Ousley and Kristina Slater take time to pose for a fall photo during the WHS/WMS National Honor Society Rake ‘n Run.

WHITKO — The National Honor Society completed their annual tradition known as the Rake ’n Run just prior to Thanksgiving weekend. Students from Whitko High School and Whitko Middle School joined up in Pierceton and South Whitley to rake the leaves for the community. 

“NHS gets together every year, and this year we brought the middle school’s National Honor Society with us. We go around the community and we rake the leaves of various homes, some we have scheduled, and then, if we run out of those then we just go around town, [and] find a random house,” said Austin Nettrouer, president of the NHS for WHS. 

Nettrouer along with 45 students and 6 staff members from both schools volunteered their time to rake for around three hours to help with the falling leaves. While most residents knew the students would be raking their yards ahead of time, some residents did come home to a nice surprise, a freshly raked lawn with leaves nicely piled on the curb for pick-up. 

The event was also an opportunity for students from WMS to connect with high school students and begin to understand what their own lives will look like in the next few years when they become freshmen at WHS. 

“It’s fun! It’s cold, but it’s really fun!” shared WMS president for the National Honor Society Elizabeth Miller, “I’ve learned and met a lot of new people.” She went on to joke a bit about how she had never raked before and seemed to be genuinely enjoying it. 

Vice president for NHS, Maren Lehman noted, “I like interacting with everyone else in National Honor Society, and getting to interact with all of the middle schoolers, and then answer their questions because they’re really about how high school is and how high school National Honor Society is different from middle school National Honor Society.”

NHS leaders Maren Lehman, vice president; Austin Nettrouer, president; and Elizabeth Miller, WMS president, enjoy a photo together while attending the annual Rake ‘n Run.