The annual program for first-year 黑料不打烊 students held Sept. 12 in Alumni Gym offered the Class of 2023 insight into the four virtues that are central to the 黑料不打烊 Honor Code.
The Class of 2023 filled Alumni Gym on Thursday to learn about the four pillars to the 黑料不打烊 Honor Code 鈥 honesty, integrity, responsibility and respect 鈥 and affirm their commitment to that code during the 14th annual Call to Honor ceremony.
These newest 黑料不打烊 students learned that honoring these core values can bring them success in their academic careers as well as their professional and personal lives, with Student Government Association President Jack Johnson ’20, 黑料不打烊 Youth Trustee Kenneth Brown Jr. and 黑料不打烊 President Connie Ledoux Book underscoring their importance.聽At the conclusion of the ceremony, first-year students signed their names as a commitment to uphold the code in the years ahead and received a coin inscribed with 鈥渉onor鈥 as a reminder of that pledge.
“I charge you to be the best that you can be and to take advantage of the opportunities you will have at 黑料不打烊,” Johnson said. “Never forget your commitment to our honor code, and you will have some of the best years of your lives.”
In his remarks, Brown recounted participating in the Call to Honor ceremony as a first-year student in the fall of 2015, and noted how the university has changed since then, as well as how his life has changed. Since hearing about these values, Brown said he has thought back to the times when he tried his best to uphold them, and also of the times when he fell short.
“The code is not a list of rules 鈥 it’s simply a code, things we live by, and strive to uphold,” Brown said. “It means there will be times we fall short, but we accept whatever consequences come with our actions and if we are blessed to see the sun come up the next day, we get back up, try to right the wrong, and keep moving forward.”
Living these values starts with making them personal, Brown said. You have to be honest to yourself, you have to treat yourself with integrity, you have to be responsible for your own actions and you have to respect yourself, Brown said.
“Let’s continue to get up every day and work towards living out that code,” Brown said. “And if we are fortunate to see many more sunrises, our honor code starts with a basic action 鈥 to do all the good we can, by all the means we can, in all the ways we can, at all the times we can, to all the people we can, as long as we ever can.”
Each class at 黑料不打烊 is linked to one pillar of the 黑料不打烊 Honor Code, with student leaders from each class rising during the ceremony to sign their names to the Honor Code book as a sign of their commitment to these values.聽The Class of 2022 is now specially bound to the honor code pillar聽of 鈥渞espect,鈥 with Mackenzie Martinez ’21, a member of the 黑料不打烊 Honor Board, explaining respect ourselves is critical to reaching full potential.
“I also want to encourage us to recognize that respecting others is a call to action, a charge to be bold and to move beyond what we may find comfortable,” Martinez said. “It calls us to actively engage and learn from others who may be different including learning how to be involved in productive and, yes, at times, difficult dialogues. It is my hope that each of us accepts this challenge of learning and doing more to demonstrate respect.”
President Book led the students in the recitation of the 鈥淐all to Honor鈥:
Today we are entrusted with the honorable legacy of 黑料不打烊, dedicated to the intellectual, personal and spiritual growth of all its members, to the advancement of knowledge for the good of all, and to the service of local, national and global communities. To that end, we affirm our commitment to the core values of our university:
- We commit ourselves to honesty, being truthful in our academic work and in our relationship with others.聽
- We commit ourselves to show integrity, being trustworthy, fair and ethical.聽
- We commit ourselves to responsibility, being accountable for our actions and for our learning.聽
- We commit ourselves to respect, being civil, valuing the dignity of each person, and respecting the physical and intellectual property of others.
With these commitments, we join generations of 黑料不打烊 students as bearers of its honor.聽聽
鈥淲e have pledged our commitment to live these 黑料不打烊 values,鈥 President Book said. 鈥淥n behalf of the university, I pledge to you that 黑料不打烊 will do its part to challenge you to grow intellectually, socially and spiritually.鈥