Thief of Education: Betrayed Trust by Aleena

Thief of Education: Betrayed Trust by Aleena - December 2024 Scholarship Essay

Everyone will experience what it is like to be taken advantage of. Whether in a relationship, group setting, or work- it is inevitable. There have been numerous times in my twenty-three years of life that I have felt taken advantage of, especially with my academic abilities and skills. During my last semester before graduating with my Bachelors in Deaf Studies at Sacramento State, I faced one of the most backstabbing moments that showed me the true characters that hide within students.

In my program, due to my knowledge and understanding of course material, many students often wanted to partner with me on projects to gain an easy grade. However, I chose to work alone for this particular project. It was a Language Analysis Project (LAP) for an American Sign Language Analysis class. This project required the students to translate a story into English and gloss, which are written equations that represent the signed language. This is difficult for many students as American Sign Language may not come natural to them.

I completed my project early and had offered to explain the project and provide tips for those students in my study group who were struggling. Because we were a class, we had access to each other's work as we often had to complete student feedback assignments. Unfortunately, one of my friends had to drop the class as she was struggling to maintain a passing grade. I will refer to her as Natalie, a forty-year-old Deaf Studies major student.

I graduated that December of 2023 with my Bachelors degree and was ready to move on to graduate school. In May 2024, I received a message from Natalie explaining how she is retaking the class and that she needed some assistance in how to present her finished LAP project. Given that she had already struggled through the class the first time, I offered a Zoom meeting to see how I could help her. Little did I know I was offering my kindness to someone in a mask hiding their true intentions.

During our session, she had shared her screen so I was able to view her project. That is when I noticed her project translations sounded familiar. I commented saying, “This looks very professional, what did you need help with?” She responded saying how she was unsure how to present her work, which was confusing to me seeing she completed it correctly. My blood boiled as I noticed a tab named, “Aleena’s LAP Project” in the corner. It dawned on me; she saved my project link from the previous semester and had pasted the exact wording onto a new document. She must have noticed that the students used the same document to complete the project that we turned in for our student feedback on each due date.

I took a screenshot of her work and had compared it to mine I completed in the Fall. It was an exact match. What she truly needed help was understanding my project so she could present it. I felt hurt and decided to message her after abruptly ending the call, telling her that what she did was unacceptable and morally wrong. I have not heard from her since but hope that she learned from her mistake. I grew to feel bad for her as now she will face more struggles to get to her goals since she was actively avoiding learning.

These people live among us, stealing our work like thieves in the night. As a student who worked hard and underwent some medical challenges that semester, I find no excuse to validate her actions. Today, I write this one month after brain surgery for an AVM and am ready to start my doctorate degree for Audiology in January 2025. If this were to happen again, I don't think I would be able to handle being taken advantage of kindly given my health circumstances and my ability to still complete work. There are no excuses for behavior that disrespects not only me, but the Deaf community for failing to learn properly.

This experience has taught me to help myself more; to stop trying to feed all the ducks in the pond. I should hold more accountability in my own education and time instead of constantly helping others. I often struggle with being overly empathetic and hate seeing someone struggle. Going forward into my doctorate program, I will be cautious about people's accessibility to my paperwork and my kind heart. Thank you for your time and consideration in helping me reach my goals to become an Audiologist.