Student Fellows Program July 2005
Sher Afgan T.
2005
A high school student shares Student Fellows Program highlights and experiences.
I joined my school's newly built Student Ethics Council because some of the social behaviors that I observed in my school were concerning to me. Those behaviors were hurting the school from providing its best education in a pleasant, comfortable, and ethical environment. Since Washington-Lee has a vigorous and challenging curriculum, many students (including the bright ones) are pressurized to cheat on tests; not because twenty-four hours per day is insufficient to study, but because those students get involved in various other activities which hinders them from presenting their academic skills. Secondly, I have seen a minority of students bullying others in places such as the cafeteria. Activities such as these make it extremely harmful for students of all kinds but especially for foreign students who also have to cope up with many cross-cultural challenges. It results in students hesitating to come to school because the school community does not provide the warm-hearted welcome they require. Finally, the most recent problem that has grown enormously in recent years in our school is the act of stealing and damaging school and student's properties. I plan to help start solving these problems by gathering my peers in a cooperative manner.
My experience at SFP has prepared me to become an effective leader to help my school with the challenges it faces today. As a leader of my SEO, I intend to build my club an everlasting home for students who will join W-L in the years to come. I will inform my peers why it is even more important for students to be ethical leaders of tomorrow rather than only having A's on the report cards. Lastly, I plan to help start solving the problems that I have mentioned above by gathering my peers in a cooperative manner. I know I will face many challenges in winning all my goals, but the training provided to me by the SFP makes me say, " I am confident, I will succeed!" I show my gratitude and appreciation to the SFP for taking the difficult but valuable task of building leadership skills among the promising students in so many schools. We, the students, will make them proud!
Student-led ethics is necessary because today's young adults have the responsibility to purify societies (large and small) from political, financial, and social unethical activities. Those of us who were trained by the SFP were all young students. As we grow older, we will all choose different paths and different occupations. We may not remember everyone by face or by name. But we will all know each other in some way because every one of us present at the conference will be promoting ethical values throughout the world. Some as lawyers, some as teachers, some as doctors but all of us in some way will be ethical role models for everyone. Everyone!
