News Detail
Sarah Thomas '16 Delivers Honor Code Speech to New Students
On September 9, 2015, Sarah Thomas '16, Chair of the Honor Committee, delieverd the following speech to new students about the importance of Episcopal's Honor Code.
Good morning and welcome to Episcopal. I hope that you had a fun and restful summer.
I introduced myself briefly in a letter in August, but my name is Sarah Thomas. I am a senior from Lincoln, Nebraska and I live as a monitor on Evans dorm. I play soccer and in the spring I row for the crew team. I am also the Chair of the Honor Committee for this school year. Before I explain the Honor Code and role it plays at Episcopal, I would like to introduce you to the Honor Committee. The Honor Committee seeks primarily to help students discover how the Honor Code will play into the development their own moral compass, reviews potential violations of the Honor Code, and attempts to prevent the violation from reoccurring.
I would like to start by introducing the student members of the Honor Committee. These students were elected last spring by their peers for their commitment to the Honor Code, ability to make difficult decisions, and compassion. To begin, this is Ashby Wickham. Ashby is a monitor on Hoxton dorm and plays soccer. Seated next to him is Pricilla Barton-Metcalfe. Pricilla plays field hockey and lives as a monitor on Harrison. This is Hayes Cochrane. Hayes works in the weight room and is a monitor on Hummel. Next I would like to introduce Will Cummings. Will plans on playing maroon and black soccer this fall and lives on Berkeley. Next to Will is Tate Mikkelsen. Tate runs cross country and is a Monitor on Evans. This is Alex Collie. Alex is a monitor on Berkeley and plays football. Finally, this is Max Smith. Max plays soccer and is also a monitor on Berkeley. In addition to eight students, three faculty members also serve on the Honor Committee. Dr. Dixon is a German and English teacher. Mrs. English is a history teacher and helps coach the crew team. Mrs. Goldstein is an English teacher.
Since the first Honor Pledge in 1857, Episcopal’s closely knit community has been shaped by the Honor Code. Although the Honor Code can be viewed as a set of rules to follow, I believe that it more a lifestyle that is present in every relationship and interaction at Episcopal. The Honor Code states,
I will not lie.
I will not cheat.
I will not steal.
I will report the student who does so.
The first statement of the Honor Code, “I will not lie,” can be rather simple. Lying to a teacher or lying to a fellow student is clear violation of the Honor Code. Yet this tends to be the easiest tenet to break. In the moment, it is easy to claim that you did your homework even if you were in a friend's room the whole night, or to sign in for someone else at breakfast when nobody's looking. Possessing a fake I.D. or signing out to a different location than intended on dorm are also instances where judgement can easily be clouded and the option to lie seems reasonable. This year, Episcopal is trying a new method for signing in and out. Students are each assigned a four digit code in replacement of your initials on paper. For some students, it may be an easy temptation to type in another student's code at sign in times. This is an honor violation, but more importantly it is an occasion where the Honor Committee trusts the student’s integrity to overcome those difficult temptations. Although some little lies may seem harmless it is important to remember that you are violating faculty members and student’s trust. Because of the Honor Code, you, as Episcopal students, are endowed with trust. Lying, whether it is face to face or when nobody is looking is breaking that powerful bond of trust that extends to every member of the community.
The next piece of the Honor Code is, “I will not cheat.” The purpose of this piece of the Honor Code is to maintain the academic integrity of Episcopal. Cheating almost always happens when a student is not confident in their own work or managed their time unwisely. In many instances, the goal of cheating is to receive a higher grade. Plagiarism in a paper is example of both lying and stealing, but most importantly cheating. In plagiarizing you are stealing another person’s words and lying about your own in order to boost a grade or to turn in an assignment on time. This fall, your History and English classes will be involved in a couple of sessions with Episcopal’s librarians who will teach you how to prevent plagiarism. If you ever have any questions about plagiarism, I encourage you to seek out a librarian or teacher. At Episcopal, each of you will be placed in a situation in which cheating may be a way to finish a paper faster or to avoid getting a bad grade. However, you will always have a choice between resisting the urge to cheat and jeopardizing you place at Episcopal. The Honor Code protects your ability to learn to your fullest extent here because it challenges you not to cheat. Sometimes this means that you will not get a paper done on time or the grade you wished for on a test, but in the end you have much more. You not only still have your position at EHS, but you also have preserved Episcopal’s academic integrity that provides an environment where all students can be curious, grow, and learn.
The third part of the Honor Code is, “I will not steal.” We are blessed at Episcopal to live in an all boarding community. Such a community creates friendships and memories that will last a lifetime. As we all live together and share common spaces the lines between borrowing and stealing tend to blur. Going into your best friend’s room and borrowing a shirt without asking permission, no matter how sure you are that he or she will say yes, is in fact stealing. In these next few weeks you will notice that students leave their backpacks outside the dining hall during lunch or in the library during the day. The Honor Code allows students to be certain that upon returning their belongings will be untouched. When a student steals, the trust that is automatically present between students by the Honor Code is violated and our community becomes a less trustful place.
The final statement of the Honor Code, “I will report the student who does so,” is perhaps the most important of the four tenets. This part of the Honor Code removes the individual nature of the first three statements and asks students to not only be honorable themselves, but also to challenge their peers to do the same. Although reporting another student may seem like tattletaling or snitching, you must remember that we live in a community that is dedicated to the Honor Code. We have an obligation as students of Episcopal to continue to pursue honor. I understand that in a moment of crisis, when you have the option to report a student, the betterment of the Episcopal community may not be first and foremost in your mind. However, most of you were drawn to Episcopal for its closely knit community and academic integrity. If you, in your time at Episcopal, want to continue to thrive in the environment that brought you here, then I suggest that you not only take responsibility for yourself and your own actions regarding honor, but also uphold your peers to that same standard.
As you find your way at Episcopal, you will discover that honor is critical. When students come to Episcopal they agree to live under the Honor Code and therefore are allowed a massive amount of trust. Violations of the Honor Code, no matter the size or significance, interrupt that web of trust that the Honor Code brings. I do not mean to scare you with explaining the consequences of an honor violation. However, I do want to leave you today fully aware of the Honor Code and its presence here at Episcopal. You are all bright individuals and therefore have the ability to make the correct choice not to violate the Honor Code. I have confidence in you. Living in a community of honor can be challenging, but also rewarding. It allows you to learn and discover your own morals. This set of individual morals that the Honor Code helps establish in each of you will become a tool to guide you in your life outside of Episcopal’s gates. The Honor Committee and I will be here for you as you make this transition into boarding school and discover not only what the Honor Code will mean to you, but also how it will help develop your own moral compass.
In a few minutes Mr. Rogers and I will come to every advisory and ask you to sign the Honor Pledge. By signing your name, you are agreeing to live under the Honor Code and more importantly uphold your role as a member of this community. The register you will sign states,
“As a student of Episcopal High School, I pledge not only to obey and maintain the Honor Code, but also to make a concentrated effort to learn, uphold, and expand the school’s higher values of respect, integrity, courage, fortitude, and above all, honor. I hereby affirm my personal commitment to the Honor Code by signing my name in this register.”
Members of the Honor Committee will reach out to every advisory while the register is being signed. I ask that you reflect on my words and discuss the role of the Honor Code at Episcopal. I would like to remind you that you all play a critical role in our community as it strives to uphold honor. You have a responsibility as an EHS student to be honorable and to challenge your fellow students to do the same in order to support the web of trust that the Honor Code brings to our community. The Honor Committee will be here to work with you and guide you as you face your own commitment of honor to Episcopal and unearth your moral identity.
