A Student with Honor

Recently I caught three students cheating  on a reading quiz. One of the students, we will call her Sarah, shocked me with cheating. It was extremely out of character for her. There are some kids I see around school and they seem to have a different countenance that screams "I have integrity and I value it." Sarah is one of those students. I had her sister in class last year and she had this same countenance. Well, I went through the day and almost forgot about it when Sarah comes into my room after school. She explained what had happened and how a classmate had seen her put down the wrong answer and wrote the right one on his page for her to see. She didn't realize what he was doing until I came and took away the papers. She kept apologizing and was crying. It was a moment that touched me because she was one of the many students caught cheating who had ever apologized and was upset about what happened. I gave her a hug and thanked her for the apology. The grade is still a zero but she maintained trust with me. I loved that she valued her integrity so much. I called her mother and thanked her for raising such wonderful young women with strong integrity and honor. If it wasn't for the Prozac I probably would have been crying with Sarah. There are good kids and there is hope for our future.