Student Fellows Program July 2005
Carolyn W.
2005
A high school student shares Student Ethics Office and Student Fellows Program highlights and experiences.
When I first got involved with the SEO, I'll admit that I definitely had my doubts. I was a bit of a pessimist when it came to changing my school community and, to be perfectly honest, the idea didn't really sit too comfortably with me. I figured that whatever other people did and however other people acted was completely their business and I should just keep my opinions and morals to myself.
So yes, when I first got involved with the SEO, it could easily be said that I was absolutely clueless as to what I was doing there.
Having lived through an entire year of serving in Lake Braddock's SEO, I can safely say that not only has my opinion of my school changed a great deal, but I've also gained more confidence in the belief that I can do something to change it. Just being surrounded by people who have some of the same beliefs and goals that you do is enough to make anyone feel unbelievably more confident in what they're capable of doing.
The SEO not only gives us the opportunity to really make a stand and say, "This really isn't okay for all of us to be doing. Gangs, cheating, bullying? Are you kids crazy or what?" but it also lets us bounce ideas off one another all the time, figuring out ways to spread our different messages across the entire student body. Through posters, flyers, and SEO sponsored activities, the school is slowly but surely starting to become more and more aware of our presence in it.
When I was invited to go to St. Louis, I was absolutely thrilled. Even though it meant cutting my vacation at the lake a little short, I was completely ready and willing to do it just because it meant talking about my experiences to a crowd who actually wanted to listen and who genuinely cared about ethics in the school community. Granted, I'm not what I would call the best public speaker, so when it came time to really make the presentation, I was practically falling over my obnoxious high heels as a big bundle of nerves.
One of the things I discovered through flying all the way out there and getting up in front of that audience, though, was that a lot of schools are really interested in trying to promote good character and ethical values in their students. It honestly made me just want to start asking people what on earth was stopping them from making an SEO of their own. If all these schools right around DC are popping up with their own ethics programs, there's absolutely no reason that other schools across the nation can't do the same.
It may be viewed as "geeky" or "weird" by some, but for me it's not really about that at all. If anything, it's simply trying to promote an overall goodness in a student population that kids of today really need, because ethics are one of those things that you really have to have a good grip on in order to go out there into the real world. The SEO is all about promoting those ethics and getting our students ready for that real world so that it doesn't all come crashing down around their ears the moment they step into it.
