Senior School Students Present at CSEE Honors Systems Conference

When we first heard about this opportunity, open to the three juniors on Sewickley Academy’s Honor Council, we were very interested to see what it would be like. This was the first time that Sewickley Academy representatives would be able to attend an event like this. Upon arrival, the festivities started with a few ice breakers allowing us to meet the other attendees of the event. There were around thirty people in total; a mix of students and teachers from schools in varying parts of the country.

In the following days, we heard presentations from many of these schools outlining their school’s honor code, honor council, procedures during a case, case studies, and more. Simran and I also gave a presentation in which we began with our Honor Council’s Mission Statement and Honor Code, followed by the make-up of our council, and the steps we take during a case. After that, we discussed typical courses of actions we take depending on the violation and presented multiple case study scenarios meant to spur discussion. We concluded by outlining the importance of the Honor Council, not only in creating an environment built on trust and respect but also in instilling good morals that will allow for success in the future.

Other key events that stood out during this conference were the Stanford Honor Board’s presentation where they discussed how they handle cases and what they do to prevent future violations and college counselors who talked about how colleges view students who have reportable violations of the honor code on their transcripts.

Throughout the conference it was enlightening to hear the make-ups of each of the councils, the similarities and differences in how cases are handled, the various processes of getting elected to a council, and the perspectives shared in many of the case studies that were presented. Furthermore, one of the most stimulating aspects of this conference was hearing about some of the things other honor councils did outside of handling violations, such as having activity periods where students discuss and present moral dilemmas in order to promote values, decision-making, and compromise; placing signed honor pledges on full display in one of the front hallways of a school to serve as a constant reminder of the contracts students sign in entering a community of respect, and other events of similar nature.

Overall, attending the CSEE conference was truly worthwhile as it has given our Honor Council many new goals we plan on working toward in both the next few months and the following school year.