ETHOS • FALL 2021
tions and implementing ideas and projects that will have to do with the well-being of peers. In the Honor Code Club we believe that when passionate, intelligent, and proactive kids and teens gather and work together, things can and will change. Our dream is to spread kindness and deliver the message to the whole Middle School that mutual respect is the key to a healthy teenage and adult life in the future.
Why Is Maintaining Integrity, Honor And Respect During The Pandemic Necessary? by Venie Gaki and Christina Bakoyannis, Members of the Honor Code Club & Advisors
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he Honor Code Club is a Middle School Club that helps children build character and demonstrate cooperation by working with others on a variety of projects. The Honor Code Club promotes values and virtues like courtesy, resilience, respect and concern for others, by working closely with charity organiza-
Despite this year’s difficulties and challenges, the Honor Code Club was very active indeed! Among the many wonderful projects our members were involved in, the most ambitious project of all was when the Middle School students participated in a survey and watched a presentation related to the use of social media and the increase of cyber-bullying during the pandemic. Both the survey and the presentation were created by the Honor Code Club members after thorough research. Sofia Floriou, Alexia Terezaki, Tanya Omer, Hadi Al- Saedi and Selin Ucan conducted thorough research and created a presentation that all Middle School students watched during an Advisory Class in March. Through this presentation, the aforementioned students gave further insight into several areas that pertain to the extensive use of social media. They explained the reasons why adolescents are vulnerable to social media addiction and they discovered that, during the pandemic, when adolescents were forced to sit in front of a screen practically all day, the use of social media was increased by 72% and posting by 43%; online gaming showed an increase of 40%, and sadly, cyberbullying, an alarming increase of 70%! The presentation was one that any professional would envy! The students raised awareness regarding cyberbullying; they clarified the responsibilities of the victim and the bystander, but they also did research on the laws that exist in various countries against online harassment. The students provided ideas and suggestions about what to do in order to neither be intimidated by the use of social media nor naive or gullible when using them. However, the Honor Code Club did not stop there...Xin Yang Chen, Vasiliki Drakou, Platon Georgopoulos, Luca Grubacic, Nikola Koutsikou
