February 20, 2023
Story and photo by Joe Vinduska
This is part one of a series on the importance of academic integrity at Barton. The college will feature student stories throughout the spring semester that help showcase values of academic integrity. These values include trust, responsibility, honesty, courage, fairness, and respect.
Barton Community College holds itself to the highest standards when it comes to academic integrity. In recognition of their integrity, students were selected based on instructor and staff nominations to represent Barton’s Integrity Values. This spring, the college will feature student stories on its social media accounts that showcase the values of academic integrity and the students who represent them.
Executive Director of Foundational Education Stephanie Joiner said fostering academic integrity is important to help ensure that students walk away with a degree that has value while also helping reinforce key traits that will help students in other areas throughout their lives.
“We all make multiple choices per day,” she said. “Deciding is easier when you have information or a belief on which to base a decision. Awareness and education are two key components for Barton’s Academic Integrity Council, ensuring that students have access to integrity information, knowledge about where they may receive support, and an understanding of the importance of their choices. The students represented in this series exemplify these values that will impact them not only while they are here at Barton but also into their future careers.”
Marina Clark was nominated by her history instructor and is the ambassador representing responsibility. She currently attends Barton at Fort Riley and is headed to Kansas State University in the fall to pursue her dream of becoming an educator. In her nomination she was described as “thoughtful, hard-working, and committed to furthering her education.”
Clark said she holds academic integrity close to her heart.
“Academic integrity is important to me because it helps me hold myself to a specific set of standards,” she said. “Responsibility plays a really big role in both my academic life and personal life! In my academic life, I really try to complete my assignments before they are due. I also try to let my professors know if there is anything that I'm struggling with or something that isn't working for me. In my personal life, I'm a para-educator, so I work with kids in special education. I really try to teach the students I work with how important it is to turn in assignments on time and speak up for things they don't understand.”
Director of Innovation & Compliance Lee Miller said Clark’s recognition of the responsibility she carries as a current student and a future educator make her an ideal ambassador for this value.
“In her role as an ambassador, Marina has assisted in the development of a student seminar on academic integrity and has participated in Barton’s Academic Integrity Council, providing a student’s perspective on the topic of integrity and during the application process, Marina expressed the connection between responsibility and integrity: ‘I think responsibility is a super important value to have because without it, there would be no accountability in life.’”
For more information, contact Miller at (620) 786-7453 or millerle@bartonccc.edu.