Maaz Usmani

As you might be thinking judging by the picture, why does this guy carry around this beat up old card with him? Well, this is my honor card. I received this card my freshman year of high school at GSMST and it served to symbolize the two most basic principles of GSMST: honor and integrity. These two concepts were strongly upheld at GSMST and therefore played a major influence throughout the most important years of my teenage life. I never realized however, that because honor and integrity were stressed so much in my academic life, they will start to influence my personal life in a huge way as well. Seeing that I was left independent for the most part in my personal actions, I had to make decisions that would ultimately impact what kind of person others saw me as. Whether it came down to hanging with a certain group of people, taking advantage of someone else in a multitude of ways, choosing whether or not to accept test banks when others had them, integrity and honor would rush to my mind, and I could not get rid of them until I made the right decision. Ultimately, I am very glad I have upheld these two concepts and that they play a major role in my decision making because they are the basis of my moral perception. I plan to keep this handy card with me as long as I can and who knows, maybe at the high school reunion in 10 years, there will be others whose lives’ were impacted by this little piece of paper as mine was.