Getting good grades requires an enormous amount of dedication, and sometimes students ask themselves if it is all worth their time.

The long hours will pay off for some at 3 p.m. Nov. 11 at the formal reception given by the NIU chapter of Golden Key National Honor Society. They plan to honor outstanding students, faculty members and professionals at the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center.

The application process began a month ago when the Office of Records and Registration released names of students who had a grade point average of 3.3 or higher.

“The Golden Key sent out more than 1,300 invitations this year,” said Beth Miller, this year’s national student representative for Golden Key and vice president at the NIU level. Last year there were 310 new members, but now the chapter hopes to induct as many as 400, she said.

Barbara Henley, vice president for Student Affairs, will be the keynote speaker for the event. Keynote speakers are always inducted as honorary members, Miller said. Henley and five other individuals will be inducted as honorary members in recognition of commitment and continued support of quality undergraduate education.

Other honorary members to be admitted to the society at the reception include MaryAnn Childers of WLS Channel 7 in Chicago and three NIU faculty members: Steve Squires, undergraduate adviser for the School of Music, Martha Cooper, graduate adviser for Communication Studies and Michael Tunnel, professor in Curriculum and Instruction.

Miller said honorary inductees are chosen by the NIU Golden Key Executive Board. “They have brainstorming sessions where they choose role models who have taken their education and ran with it,” she said.

Miller said they chose this year’s honorary inductees with the help of other faculty members. They asked who they felt was representing what a good education can do for an undergraduate, she said.

NIU’s chapter is five years old and already has 25 honorary members. The board chooses five new honorary members each year.

Also, the chapter is receiving recognition for being an outstanding organization at the local and national levels.

NIU was among 19 chapters who were awarded the Key Chapter Award. It is the highest honor a chapter can receive, praising chapters that excel in communication, leadership, involvement of honorary members, campus awareness, reception and chapter activities.

Fabian De Rozario, second-year faculty adviser, received the 1990 President’s Award at the national convention in Scottsdale, Ariz. He has been involved with Golden Key for almost 10 years.

“I was pleasantly surprised, humbled and honored by the award,” De Rozario said. “To be singled out of so many worthy people has injected me with even more enthusiasm for Golden Key.”