DARMSTADT, Germany — More than 40 eighth-graders from five schools shared, brainstormed and started friendships during a National Junior Honor Society conference Thursday at Darmstadt Middle School.

The conference, developed for and by members of the NJHS, packed the four-hour session with games and learning.

Pupils from Darmstadt, Wiesbaden, Hanau, Heidelberg, and Rhein-Main huddled in working groups to share their ideas about scholarship, leadership, service, character and citizenship — the basis of the program.

The 45 pupils, who said they were much more than just an honor society, used the conference as an opportunity to network.

Through challenging games such as Squishy Brains, which used word problems to stump participants, and Build a Shelter, which offered only minimal material to make a shelter, the children first learned to work in small clusters with other students outside their school. Once they got to know each other, then the discussions began.

“We’re exchanging leadership ideas and sharing ideas for community service and raising money. Basically, we talk to each other, to see what other schools are doing, and what we can take from that,” Shonie Welker, Darmstadt’s NJHS president, said during the conference.

So far this year, Welker said pupils with NJHS in Germany have read to children at Child Development centers as a community service. They have also raised money through bake sales for an induction ceremony of new NJHS pupils, she said.

The ceremony will be held later this month, Welker said. The inductees, as well as members, will be recognized for their accomplishments at the ceremony.

All members of the NJHS maintain active involvement in school activities and community service, said Heidi Greeson, a teacher at Darmstadt Middle School.

“It’s just nice,” Greeson said. “They walk away with leadership qualities and share different ideas.”