O'Neal Upper School Inducts Honor Council Members

O’Neal’s Upper School students attended a special ceremony on Wednesday to induct new members to its honor council.
Returning members, seniors Rick Catania, Alex Stroud and junior William Schirmer were joined by new members senior Emily McMurray and sophomore Margaux Winter as well as alternate members senior Blake Martin and junior Lauren Dailey. Thirty-one applications were submitted to serve on the Honor Council. The three returning council members narrowed the pool down to 12 candidates. Every student and faculty member of the Upper School was allowed to vote for two permanent and two alternate positions on the council.

As stated in the division handbooks:

Students enrolled in The O'Neal School are expected to abide by the letter and the spirit of the Honor Code. The goals of the Honor Code include, but are not necessarily limited by the following:

1. To support, in individual students, the further development of integrity, responsibility, and accountability in both academic and personal matters.
2. To instill a loyalty to The O'Neal School in the student body as a whole.
3. To assist in maintaining a high ethical climate in the Middle and Upper Schools.
4. To ensure that a student's work be his or her own and not that of another person.
5. To instill in students a constant awareness of the ramifications of their actions and the need not to place themselves in questionable situations or in circumstances which connote dishonest or unlawful actions.

Students are requested to abide by the following pledge as a personal commitment to the honor, integrity and high standards of the School:

1. I shall be honest in all matters regarding the life of the School. My word may always be trusted.
2. The work that I present will always be my own.
3. I shall not seek unfair advantage over my fellow students by cheating or by plagiarizing.

Dean of Advisory and Honor Council Advisor, Michael Norman addressed the students and stated, “According to our School’s philosophy, The O’Neal experience is based on mutual respect and personal integrity. All members of the community are expected to honor the rights of others, to conduct themselves in a moral and decent manner, and to see this responsibility as an integral part of their lives as citizens of the community and of the world. The foundation of this belief is the Honor Code that sets the ethical standard underlying every dimension of school life.”

As part of the ceremony, the 2014 O’Neal Upper School Honor Council stood to recite the Oath of Confidentiality before their peers followed by the signing of the Honor Council Book. In the coming month, Honor Council members will be tasked with visiting each grade during a class meeting and discussing what honor means and how symbolic and important it is to sign the book. Each grade will sign during a class meeting.

It is because of O’Neal’s Honor Code that no locks are put on lockers. Tests and other school work require a statement from the student indicating that no help was given and none was received.
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The O'Neal School admits students of any race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, citizenship, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other basis protected by law to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, citizenship, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other basis protected by law in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.