Sophomore Scam by Kristin

Sophomore Scam by Kristin - June 2016 Scholarship Essay

Sophomore year was a highlighted year for me. My year had been going great and my grades reflected that. It wasn’t until my AP World History class that caught up with me. This though was not my grades, not the workload, but the false accusation that was made about me. It wasn’t too long when we got back before I was accused of plagiarism. Over the summer we we assigned a paper to write and I made sure to write it at the beginning of break so I wouldn’t run out of time and feel rushed. This being said when I heard the accusation I was shocked. I thought who I heard it from was just joking with me so I brushed it off and didn’t think more about it. Later that day I got a note asking me to report to the office. I had never gotten a note like this so I was stunned. Feeling butterflies in my stomach I began to walk down the hall. As I began to walk I thought surely couldn’t have been for plagiarism maybe I forgot something at home and they needed to give it to me. I got there and they asked me to go see our assistant principal, I have never been in the office before let alone to go see the assistant principal, so I hesitantly walked in.
My assistant principal had me sit down and said, “I called you in here today because your teacher has made the claim that you, as well had some others, copied your paper that you were assigned offline”. I sat there stunned. I looked at him and said,“No I didn’t”. He told me about how this wasn’t his first meeting of the day and that like the others he would sit with me and read it compared to the essay that was online. Knowing I didn’t copy it I was completely willing to listen to the essays in comparison. He had me read of my essay line by line and would ask me to explain what I meant. After awhile he called in one of his co-workers to compare as well. Once I finished I look up at them to see what they had to say. They had agreed that I had a well written essay and when comparing my essay to the one online the didn’t see how my teacher believed it was plagiarized. I did make some of the same points but it was not in the same words or same order and I had expanded on my ideas and made connections. They decided that they wanted me to come in the next morning and that we would all discuss it, the two of them, my teacher, and myself.
That night I talked to my dad and explained what happened. He was as baffled as I was. He told me to go in and only to be honest and make sure I got the grade I deserved. The next day came around and I went back into the office. When I came in they told me how the all talked and made a decision on what to do. They wanted me to come in on the last day of finals and rewrite the essay but to a new prompt. It would also go on my record and they would call my father. This angered me. They decided I wasn’t guilty of plagiarism, I knew I didn’t plagiarize but I was still getting punished for it? After they dismissed me I messaged my dad and told him what happened and that they were going to call him. He matched my anger and told me not to worry and that he was going to handle it. That day when I came home my dad told me about that call. He said how they told him I didn’t plagiarize, but they still wanted me to come it and rewrite it. My dad questioned them asking, “why I should need to redo my essay that I worked hard on?” They had a long conversation and decided that I would not have to go in and make up the essay and they they would grade it as if this had never happened. I was so relieved but worried about going in the next day. I was scared about how my teacher my treat me for not getting her way.
The next day I came to school with caution. I didn’t have my AP World History class until the end of the day so the rest of the day just built up fear. By the time I had to go to in I sped walk to my seat with my head down to avoid eye contact. I hated confrontation, but I knew I needed to speak to her sooner or later. At the end of class I went to her desk and said sorry for all the mess that happened but I knew I didn’t cheat and wanted to get the grade I deserved. She nodded and said how she believed me and that she must of gotten annoyed from reading all the papers that were copied and must have just gotten mine mistaken with theirs. This day taught me so much about myself and how you need to stick up for yourself and that even though I didn’t plagiarize, to always cite my sources.