In the final weeks of my freshman year, I made a terrible mistake. In a rush to finish a final English paper, I used two lines from Spark Notes. When confronted by my teacher, I readily admitted my dishonesty and accepted the consequence of having my grade lowered from a hard-won A- to a D+. The experience of plagiarizing was a terrible one, but one that I brought on solely through my own actions. My literary and academic interests were still unrefined then and, in part due to this experience, have since substantially evolved. I just hope that this one wrong decision in my life doesn’t define who I can become. Ever since that day, I’ve worked hard to prove myself as an English student, striving to put this isolated incident behind me. My commitment to artistic integrity has grown more sincere over the years, and I hope my overall record reflects this.
