As the final home stretch of the school year approaches, it’s not unusual to feel an overbearing sense of pressure from the grueling amount of work thrust upon you. But as this stress-induced time creeps up on SHS students, it’s important we uphold our integrity as we grind out our endless assignments.

 SHS encourages students to work together in order to excel, but can working with your peers on a homework assignment cause you to be put on an SHS plagiarism trial? If you are an active member of the SHS community, as many students are, getting caught plagiarizing can have a detrimental effect on your involvement in clubs and sports, as well as with honors or scholarship opportunities.      

     This is especially true for students who are a part of the National Honor Society. If you are member of NHS and find yourself in the middle of a plagiarism problem, you may be subject to meet with the SHS faculty council.

    So what is the SHS faculty council? It is a group of five faculty members who ultimately determine the severity of the plagiarism issue at hand and the proper way to move forward from it. The final decisions “range from doing nothing to removing the student from NHS or the student could be put on probation,” said NHS advisor Mr. Lynch.

    Most SHS students know the widely accepted definition of plagiarism, but the fine lines often tend to get blurry. Senior Larissa Andrade said, “Plagiarism is copying someone’s work word for word. When you do work together, everyone puts their own opinion in and you’re sharing thoughts and ideas.”

    That being said, the implications of each plagiarism incident vary greatly and there is no one way to go about resolving it. The faculty council recognizes that some situations may be more severe than others. “Unfortunately there are no black and white rules about it. Every situation is different,” said Lynch.

    Although a meeting with faculty may seem intimidating, it can be extremely beneficial to the NHS member who simply made a mistake. “It works in the favor of the kids because it provides a venue to discuss what they’ve learned,” said Lynch.

    The SHS community does not take plagiarism lightly but students now have the ability to revisit the mistake and learn from it instead of simply receiving a specific punishment. Speaking on behalf of the faculty council, Lynch said, “We take it very seriously, but we acknowledge that students deserve to be heard and that kids can grow from these experiences,” said Lynch.

    The SHS faculty council is there to help any prospective or current members of the National Honor Society community. They want to see the students of SHS succeed and they work to hear out all sides of the issue in order to find the best possible solution to plagiarism here at SHS.