One of the things you first hear about Lyon when you first start looking at it is its “Honor Code”. I know the first time I heard about it, I really didn’t understand it, even as I signed it at matriculation. However, as most students do, I found that it actually does surround us everyday here at Lyon. The first time I really experienced it was the first open format Biology exam I took. I could have never imagined just being able to take a test basically whenever I felt like it (within about a 3 day span) and not even had a professor there to watch what I was doing. You may not believe but you never really feel tempted to cheat. It’s really a respect thing in that I really would feel like I was letting the professor down by not putting in the same amount of work to learn the material that he did teaching it to us by just using my book or notes. It is hard to explain it until you experience it though, but it’s just another part of Lyon that really makes a difference in the relationships you build with your proffessors. Of course from time to time there are sometimes when some get caught up in the stress of school and are a bit dishonest in their work, and this is dealt with by the Honor Council.

 Unlike some school’s honor systems, Lyon’s is completely run by students. This means student elected members that are your peers that handle cases of cheating. Most of the time though the cases are minor, and the whole point of the hearing is to determine a consequence that reminds the student of the system of trust that we work upon and return them to that society of trust. Just one more little thing that kinda sets Lyon apart.