Student Blog: Integrity is Everything

Integrity isn’t something new, we’ve heard it preached since elementary school. The constant reminders to cite your sources or use your own words. Academic integrity is key to a successful school experience, especially college. It’s something that applies to every class, course, major, and interest. Success is dependent on you and your own work, not someone else’s ideas or words. You can put in the time to learn and work for your own success, now, or you can abandon your integrity and forever be falling behind. The choice is always yours.

Personally, academic integrity doesn’t just relate to academics, but to morals, as well. It’s one thing to do the right thing and always submit your own work, but it’s more important that you made that choice. You chose honesty over the easy route and that is what will take you far in life. The willingness to take the harder path and showcase your talents and abilities, no matter at what level they lie, is key. 

 It can be easy to want to just get through the assignment and get the grade for the course, but is that really benefiting your future? I often have the one-track mindset of just trying to get through the here and now, but if you get through it dishonestly, how is that affecting your future? Imagine you show up to an internship and they ask you to demonstrate a skill. All your fellow interns are able to do it without complaint, but that chapter’s homework, in school, was something you used Quizlet for. You’ve shot yourself in the foot and there’s nothing to blame but your inability to have academic integrity and self-discipline. Always be looking forward, because every action does have a consequence.

On a much lighter note: for theatre majors specifically, integrity is what will set you apart. Of course you need to maintain academic integrity; you can’t go about rewriting Shakespeare or passing off Peter and the Starcatcher (shameless plug: I'll be playing Molly Aster at the Palmdale Playhouse and we'd love to have you experience the adventure! Tickets available here) as your own original work. You have to keep in mind, also, to maintain the integrity of the material you are performing. It says and gives certain direction for a reason, so be mindful of what the playwright intended; in other words, it's not your writing, so you don't get to mess it up! This, however, doesn't mean you can't bring yourself and your interpretations to the character and script as a whole.

When performing, your own integrity, as an actor, is just as important. Be truthful to the character in how you portray them. Acting is never meant to be copy and paste, so don't plagarize Kristin Chenoweth's version of 'Glinda'; make everything your own. Every time you book a role, treat the script as if you don't have a reference point. It is brand new to you and you don't have anyone to base the character off of. Bring your own quirks to the character (within reason) and don't be afraid about how you interpret the text because the director will tell you if you're wrong!

Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Be truthful to yourself and your art (and your GED math course). Your integrity is everything, so own it and don't lose it. I believe in you!

Until next time,

Brynna

ig: @_br.ynn_

tt: @brynnaweir

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