Five seniors at Kingwood High School were prepared and excited to launch their school district’s first chapter of Rho Kappa in August 2017. They had met multiple times to formalize all of the plans for the coming school year. Everything was ready to go! Social Studies! Senior year! Then, the weekend before school started, Hurricane Harvey flooded the high school, literally washing away all of their plans. In addition to losing their school, two of the students also had flooded homes. The aftermath was challenging: their campus would remain closed for the rest of the year, they would commute 40 minutes to a campus on the opposite side of the district, and only go to school half-day. How could an extracurricular organization survive such logistical obstacles? How could a new club be founded under such circumstances?

Despite the adversity of being displaced from their school, losing the comfort of their homes, and having their routines turned upside down, these five students persisted and successfully founded their school’s chapter of Rho Kappa. They had their first induction ceremony at a local Methodist church, had weekly officer meetings off-campus at Starbucks, and ordered honor cords for 35 graduating seniors. The Class of 2018 was delighted to find out that their school would reopen in March after Spring Break. The homecoming was wonderful not only because seniors could finish their last year at KHS, but because Rho Kappa could finally establish a presence on campus. They organized a History Film Night screening of Hidden Figures and conducted officer elections for the 2018-2019 school year. The officers experienced a lot of hardship this year, but thanks to their tireless commitment the Kingwood High School chapter got off the ground and is ready to fly next year. To the officers: Grace, Ryen, Mallory, Dani, and Heather; congratulations on a job well done, y’all!