Rho Kappa, the Social Studies National Honors Society, attended the American Legion veteran’s luncheon on Friday to thank the veterans for their service.

Rho Kappa usually hosts the veterans day panel, but this year they attended the new event.

“I think it’s so exciting,” Pistol said. “I know that the people who are hosting it, they had it for like years and years when they lived in Iowa.”

Rho Kappa is led by social studies teachers Bryan Brogren and Maegan Ruport and focuses on history and social studies-related topics for their community outreach and projects. 

“Rho Kappa is a little different than normal NHS,” senior officer Elyse Pistol said. “It’s civics based so we do projects that are helping bring awareness to history.” 

Rho Kappa is an honor society at West geared toward students interested in social studies topics

“Rho Kappa is a social studies focused honors group, a little bit different than National Honor Society, “ Bryan Brogren said. “You just have to have a 3.0 or above in the social studies classes. It is offered for juniors and seniors, and we do a lot of social focused events like charities and bringing awareness to certain special groups and interest groups in certain months. We’re relatively new in Olathe. We are the first Rho Kappa chapter in the Olathe school district.”

Rho Kappa has hosted other veterans’ events in the past.

“Rho Kappa is an honor society for social studies that places emphasis on any subject in social studies, like history, sociology, or even psychology,” senior member Mary Kueter said. “So we do volunteer work that’s more related to that specifically, like Veterans Day or voting.” 

The veteran’s panel was one of the bigger projects Rho Kappa is involved with and was similar to the luncheon.

“We’ve been doing a panel for the last three years since Rho Kappa started, and that’s when we were bringing veterans in school,” Brogren said. “We got an opportunity to do the lunch, and since Veterans Day falls on a Friday of this year, we decided that would be nice little change of pace. So, this will be our first year do it.”

The luncheon was a way of expressing gratitude for veterans, and Rho Kappa members were ready to lend a hand.

“This is the first year we’ve done this,” Kueter said. “And really, we’re just preparing ourselves, to be able to offer that connection with them and be able to provide something more than just food.”