Members of the Class of 2014 gathered in the Academic Village Thursday morning to pledge their commitment to Elon University’s honor code at the fifth annual Call to Honor Ceremony. “We’re honor-bound by the values of honesty, integrity, responsibility and respect,” said SGA President Taylor Martin. “These are the hallmark values of our education and ourselves.”
Student leaders representing all four classes shared with first-year students their reflections on what each quality means to them before lighting a candle in a symbolic gesture of their commitment.
Michael Nowak, senior class president, told students being respectful goes beyond keeping a civil dorm room; it means to respect each other’s differences and learn from them. Honesty, junior class president Samuel Warren said, is to be truthful not only in academic work but also in all personal relationships. Sophomore class president Rebecca Tynes said integrity is the core commitment that guides a person to be true to his or her word and makes them trustworthy. Finally, Ryan Budden, president for the Class of 2014, told students responsibility means to be accountable for one’s actions.
“Every action we take, whether it’s in a small community here at Elon or in one of the vast global regions of the world, that action creates a ripple and that ripple extends further and affects more people than we could ever realize,” he said.
The Sept. 16 ceremony also featured remarks from Chase Rumley ’09, a youth trustee, who lit a fifth candle signifying the trust now placed in the hands of the Class of 2014 from the 120 previous classes that have graduated from Elon.
Rumley encouraged students to uphold Elon’s core values at all times–in and out of the classroom, and in academic and social situations. He reminded students that their actions not only reflected their character but the university’s reputation as well.
“Over 30,000 of us are counting on you to make the right decisions,” he said.
Prior to the ceremony, all four class presidents signed their names in the Call to Honor Book, which includes signatures from alumni dating to 1936. Other officers from the various classes signed the book during the program. At the conclusion of the ceremony, first-year students signed honor posters and were given commemorative coins inscribed with the word “honor.”
Led by President Leo M. Lambert, the Class of 2014 recited the Call to Honor in the final moments of the program. To read the pledge, click on the link to the right.