BYUSA Honor Week is geared to inspire students to recommit to the Honor Code and remember how honor sets them apart.
Students can participate in the event-filled Honor Week, Feb. 12 to 16, through a variety of activities across campus. Activities are designed not only for fun, but also to remind participants how the Honor Code applies to daily life.
“Honor Week is a celebration of who we are as children of God and who we want to become,” said Executive Director of Student Honor Robert Borden. “(Signing the Honor Code) is more than clicking ‘Yes, I agree.’”
Borden said people associate the Honor Code with the referral office, but he sees it as a life BYU students have chosen to live in order to celebrate how they are different from their peers at other schools.
The Honor Code Office’s vision is for the Honor Code to help the BYU community become like the Savior.
Executive Director of Student Honor Mimi Ross said students can prepare for Honor Week by reading the Honor Code ahead of time to help them know what to aim for and celebrate.
Honor Week activities will run daily, starting with a kick-off party in both Brigham Square and the JFSB Quad.
Students can drink free chocolate milk to celebrate 21 years of being the number-one ranked “Stone Cold Sober” school.
Students can pick up Honor Week themed T-shirts and mingle with their peers. Students can also get Honor Week T-shirts from the BYUSA office if they are unable to attend the kick-off party.
During the kick-off party, the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences will launch the #ChalkCircleChallenge, which prompts students to explain why they choose honor on social media.
The challenge is based on when Karl G. Maeser said, “Stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of the circle? No. Never! I’d die first!”
Students will draw their personal chalk circles inside one large circle on the JFSB quad. Students can write why they choose honor inside their individual circles.
The College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences will then take a bird’s-eye-view photo from the roof of the JFSB to showcase all the circles together.
Talmage Cromar, creative director for the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, said the Honor Code is what makes BYU students different.
“BYU is built on the Honor Code,” Cromar said. “Employers come here for our students because they don’t have to worry about ethical problems. We’re better for having (the Honor Code.)”
BYU Athletics, one of over 70 departments and organizations involved with Honor Week, will host the “Shoot for Honor” activity. Students can compete for prizes by shooting basketballs in a standard hoop alongside various BYU athletes throughout the day.
Student Honor Executive Director Robert Borden said the idea behind this activity is that the basketball standard is set the same for everyone, just like the honor code.
On Wednesday night, students can participate in Valentine’s Day festivities with an exclusive speed dating event. The first 100 men and 100 women to arrive at the Wilkinson Student Center are eligible for a night of two-minute dates.
Ross said the activity promotes being honorable and virtuous in dating. Pairs who find their Valentine can decorate cookies at the end of the night.
Honor Week continues with a photo booth on the west side of the WSC Terrace Thursday afternoon. Students can once again fill in their #ChalkCircleChallenge circles on blackboards and receive a Polaroid keepsake of them posing with their circles.
The Honor Speech contest winners will be announced Thursday night.
Speeches will be on the theme of why each student chooses honor. The top five winners receive cash prizes and read their speeches to open for keynote speaker Anthony Sweat of the BYU Religion Department.
The last event of the week will be on Spirit Friday; Living Legends will perform in the WSC. Students are encouraged to reflect on what Honor Week has meant to them.
“Why they chose to come to BYU is at the center of this week,” Borden said. “We choose to live honorable lives in a specific way. The most important thing is to recommit to living the life that they decided to when they came to BYU.”
For more details on Honor Week events, visit the BYU Calendar, CMPS Calendar and Honor website or the BYUSA Honor Week page. For more details on the Honor Code, visit the Honor Code website.
Event Schedule:
Monday, Feb. 12: Honor Week Kickoff. 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Brigham Square and JFSB Quad
Tuesday, Feb. 13: Shoot for Honor with Student Athletes. noon – 2 p.m., Brigham Square.
Wednesday, Feb. 14: A Date With Honor — Speed Dating. 7 p.m., WSC Garden Court
Thursday, Feb. 15: Honor Photo Shoot, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., west side WSC Terrace
Honor Speech Contest and guest speaker Anthony Sweat. 7 p.m., Garden Court WSC
Friday, Feb. 16: Spirit Friday. 12:15 p.m., WSC Terrace
