e The Epitaph
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Volume 62, Issue 7
Homestead High School 21370 Homestead Rd, Cupertino, CA 95014
May 1, 2025
Cheating incident prompts reflection amongst community Parth Dhaulakhandi, Evelyn Wang and Veronica Zhao
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hile academic dishonesty is not a new problem at HHS or any other high school campus, a recent incident that occurred in AP environmental science on March 6 has prompted teachers, deans and students to take a look at the broader issues surrounding student accountability and the academic culture on campus, science teacher Jessica Wakefield said. “I think cheating is super under-reported,” Wakefield said. “It’s basically an epidemic in all of the classes, especially as you get up into the AP and honors level courses. We have developed this culture of cheating amongst the student body, and unfortunately, a lot of students don’t value the learning process.” Reflecting on the issue of academic dishonesty, especially within English classes, English teacher Megan Bridge said the cheating culture on campus primarily stems from academic pressure. “Students are trying to balance classes, extracurriculars and all of the things to make them look competitive, and there’s just not enough time in the day to do all of those things,” Bridge said. “That’s generally where I see people taking shortcuts. It’s not necessarily that they always want to do it, but they feel like they can’t do anything else to maintain their academic standing.” Similarly, dean Rahul Sharma said FUHSD is known for its academic rigor. This rigor, paired with external pressure, can culminate in cheating, Sharma said. “We’re in the heart of Silicon Valley, [and] we serve a lot of immigrant families who are
Do you know someone Have you ever cheated academically? who has cheated?
69 Insufficient Time 59
Stress over grades
Peer Influence
Other
25 24
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Lack of Consequences
Yes (79.1%)
From a survey of 208 students
No (20.9%)
Yes (46.1%) No (53.9%)
ing methods in an attempt to promote aca- that is going to work for every student.” demic integrity. Contrastingly, junior Noah Graff, one of “This year, I’ve relied more on in-class as- Wakefield’s students who was not involved sessments that are done within the scope of in the cheating incident, said he thinks ima class period and with LockDown Browser plementing harsher consequences would or something similar,” Bridge said. “I’m also minimize academic dishonesty on campus. spending more time going through individu“A lot of HHS [students] are really foal documents for assignments that are larg- cused on grades. If you go after what these er, which means paying careful attention to students value, you’re going to see results, [students’] version history, patterns in writ- and that’s going to be saying, ‘Hey, you ing, looking at how their writing compares cheated. Your grades are going to go down,’” to other pieces of writing that they’ve done Graff said. “Even if you just do that for AP and making sure that there’s a level of con- environmental science, other classes would sistency to what’s being turned in.” catch wind of this, [and] it would be a very Beyond teachers adjusting their methods effective domino effect. The decreasing of to accommodate the rise of academic dis- cheaters’ grades will be a great way to stop honesty cases in recent years, dean Maria them from cheating in the future.” Trejo said HHS administration has also reReflecting on cheating culture, Trejo said vised its disciplinary action process by im- the ultimate goal of administration is to preplementing Saturday school. pare students for the future. “We evolved from warnings because we “You might not always get caught, but if saw they weren’t helping, so we started is- you do get caught, you’re going to be held suing Saturday school, which can be a great a c c o u n t able,” Trejo said. “That’s an shock to students, especially to important lesson to those who have never teach our students been caught [or] in now because if you inistration trouble at school,” go to a university, Teachers, adm lture on cu Trejo said. “If there’s you’re going to get g n ti ea ch discuss a way to keep you removed from the mpus ca university if you’re a little bit more accaught cheating. I’d countable and keep of re ltu cu s loped thi , “ We have deve rather we be strict you from taking the the student body gst on am g tin chea nts and take away wrong step, then I ly, a lot of stude ate tun for un d an s.” learning proces some privileges think that’s beneficial don’t value the or issue Saturday for students.” ntal science — AP environme kefield school if that’s goAlthough teachers Wa a sic Jes teacher ing to teach you a and administralesson.” tion have made efforts to pres vent cheating on to balance classe “Students are trying to make them look ulars campus, the issue rric cu tra ex d an ough d there’s not en is complicated and competitive, an not that everything. It’s do to e tim l they ultimately has to eat], but they fee they want to [ch maintain their to e be dealt with on a els ing yth can’t do an ing.” case-by-case baacademic stand e sis, Sharma said. er Megan Bridg ch — English tea The inconsistency between incidents makes it difficult to s, immigrant familie make blanket policy “Historically, for t to perform ays like ‘you’ve go good job.’ alw it’s changes, Sharma ly to get a well academical we are, there’s the added. Because of where so there’s more ng, livi of t cos h oa hig “It’s human bell in school, get int pressure to do we t a six-figure job.” ings that are cheating, ge d an e leg good col so there’s no policy arma — Dean Rahul Sh or reform that’s going to be universal for every single student and every individual human,” Sharma said. “Everyone has their own needs, so there’s no single reform Photo by Olivia Levesque Ouellette
If you have cheated before, why did you cheat?
coming to this country,” Sharma said. “Historically, for immigrant families, it’s always like ‘you’ve got to perform well academically to get a good job.’ Because of where we are, there’s the high cost of living, so there’s much more pressure for you to do well in school, get into a good college and get a six-figure job.” Due to the rise in cases of academic dishonesty in recent years, some teachers have changed their classroom policies to more effectively address this issue. For example, Wakefield said after the AP environmental science cheating incident, she has made changes such as postponing the review of quiz answers and no longer allowing students to use notes on quizzes. “Usually, I would read the answers right after a quiz so that students get that immediate feedback, but since [the incident] happened, I don’t have any other choice to prevent further cheating,” Wakefield said. “Prior to [the incident], students were allowed to use notes on quizzes, but that’s another way for students to be able to write down information and pass that on to their friends, so unfortunately, the notes aren’t allowed anymore either.” With the rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT in the last few years, Bridge said English teachers have been grappling with the influence of such tools, which have caused an increase in cheating. “[Generative AI] makes it significantly easier to cheat in English classes,” Bridge said. “In previous years, when those tools didn’t exist, you could pull ideas from the internet or you could borrow from a friend, but it didn’t create language in a way that comes across as a little bit more authentic.” In response to such developments, Bridge said she has also adjusted her teach-
Prom touches down at Levi’s Stadium
ASB discusses event details, planning process Annie Guo and Vivian Kim
The joint junior and senior prom will take place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on May 17 from 7-11 p.m., offering various amenities from desserts and drinks to music and photo booths, leadership teacher Hector Almendarez said. The prom theme will be “Saturday Night Lights,” which matches the ambiance of the venue well, Almendarez said.
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Staff must have uniform system for harassment complaints
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“The class decided on ‘Saturday Night Lights’ because it’s at a football stadium, but it’s going to be really straightforward, like nice formal wear,” Almendarez said. “We weren’t too crazy about trying to pick a super stylized theme like last year, as most people already know what they’re going to wear, so we’re keeping it simple.” Although the venue was costly, ASB prioritized keeping prices affordable, Almendarez said. Tickets were initially $80 with ASB and $90 without, and after spring break, prices increased to $90 with ASB and $100 without, with guest tickets costing $110, Almendarez said. Ticket sales were set to end on April 27 or whenever the tickets sold out, according to ASB. To plan the event, staff members worked
Student-led nonprofit introduces colorful path to activism Color for Charity members discuss art, objectives
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hand in hand with ASB to organize the finances, location and decorations, IDC commissioner, senior Stephen Heller said. “It’s a totally collaborative effort,” Heller said, “No one has more or less responsibility. They work together equally as a team to plan an event for both the junior and senior classes.” Class cabinet members began planning for the event following the announcement of ASB positions at the end of last school year. They started by discussing venue options, junior class cabinet member Sophie Xing said. “Choosing the venue was a much longer process than [choosing] the theme,” Xing said. “There were other options, such as the Winchester Mystery House, but we liked
‘Sinners’ is a genre-blending gem Film shines new light on vampires, music
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Levi’s more because Winchester is too spooky for a prom.” After choosing Levi’s Stadium as the venue, junior and senior class cabinet members toured the facility, using the floor plan and other schools’ event setups as references, Xing said. Despite the benefit of its spacious interior, Levi’s Stadium also comes with drawbacks, Xing said. Due to the stadium’s food policy, Xing said ASB cannot bring separate catering to the event and will instead have to purchase the food packages offered by the stadium.
See Prom preparations, page 2
Athlete of the month: Vivek Athavale Junior breaks 100-meter school record
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