After 22 years of leading BSM’s National Honor Society, Mr. Rob Epler has decided to step down from the role.

Mr. Epler is a Latin teacher at BSM, and he is also the coordinator and leader of the National Honor Society (NHS). Epler decided he was going to pass on the role last fall, after much consideration. Running the organization is a big undertaking and a lot goes into it behind the scenes. Due to this, he knew he had made the right choice and he felt as though maybe the organization needed some new eyes. “It is healthy to pass on this kind of thing…It became too much of a time commitment and too much responsibility,” Epler said.

Finding a new leader of the NHS was difficult. There weren’t lots of people clamoring for the job because the time commitment and pressures of the job are huge. However, the Covid-19 pandemic limited the amount of activities the NHS was able to organize. “I really had hoped that there would have been more of an effort to find someone last year when it would have probably been easier to make the transition. But it didn’t seem like it was really my responsibility, because it’s sort of an administrative thing,” Epler said.

Music teacher Emily Chmeilewski decided to take on the leadership role in place of Epler. She came to BSM last spring and started by helping out in the theology department. This year, she teaches orchestra. Epler has been working with Chmielewski to pass over the role. “She hasn’t had a ton of questions for me…she’s doing a lot of sort of figuring things out for herself and I’m sure she’s using some of the methods that I put in place… but in other places she’s probably going to be definitely doing it her own way,” Epler said.

Being a part of the National Honor Society was a big part of Epler’s responsibilities and he feels as though he has done his service and contributed for a long time. He is excited for Chmielewski and hopes she will stick with it long enough to make it her own. “The best part of almost every aspect of this job is working with the students, I am definitely going to miss that…I hope that she’s going to do it for long enough to make it hers,” Epler said.