The National Adult Education Honor Society for Practical Nursing Students

What is the National Adult Education Honor Society?

In 1991, Lloyd Weaver an Adult Education practitioner organized the first NAEHS induction ceremony to provide meaningful recognition to 17 deserving adult students. In particular was one elderly lady, a single parent with a quadriplegic daughter and a full time job in a textile plant, who had vowed years before to return to school to complete her high school education. On her third attempt, she was finally able to earn a GED. Other students had also demonstrated remarkable perseverance in achieving their educational goals and were included in that first celebration.

With 17 printed certificates, an “Induction Ceremony” was held for the honorees and their families. Everyone who witnessed that first ceremony was impressed by the impact it had upon the honorees and their families. The local press ran a story and soon other practitioners called for information about this new honor society.

Following that first small ceremony, it was decided to award lapel pins and letters of recommendation for employment along with the NAEHS membership certificates. Within a few years, other practitioners around the state were conducting NAEHS inductions for their better students. Word spread, and as they say, “The rest is history.”

In 2015, after serving as NAEHS’s director for 23 years Lloyd Weaver and his wife Janice decided to retire and Robert Bentti was appointed as the new director. In 2022, Robert retired and passed along the business to his granddaughter, Elizabeth Luciano. As a teacher, she shares the passion and dedication of honoring deserving students.

Today, NAEHS has a full time director and staff to meet the needs of programs from Alaska to Maine and California to Florida.

Student Membership

Student nominees shall have met the following standards as determined by the local adult education provider: 

• Dependable attendance 
• Dependable cooperation 
• Dependable work ethic

NAEHS does not consider test scores, academic excellence or academic elitism valid criteria for adult learners who have other significant responsibilities, including but not limited to family, occupation and/or community obligations.

Students selected from the PN program had one absence or less in each term and were never placed on probationary status.