Maritime Mindset Scandal: Part 1
RADIO SHOW: How many lies would you tell to become successful? Listen to the story of Jennifer’s, or “Michelle’s,” faked identity.
Scene 1
MYSTERIOUS MUSIC STARTS AND SLOWLY FADES AWAY AS NARRATION STARTS
NARRATION : It was a bright sunny day in the city of Detroit during mid April of 2012. John Miller took a deep sigh as he wrapped up his office to leave. Another exhausting day had passed by on disagreements with the company’s very newest member, Michelle Elsler. She, at first, seemed to be a very lovely, helpful, and smart woman, but she turned out to have an extremely stubborn personality which made it harder to cooperate. Whenever cooperating becomes difficult with a group, disagreements commonly occur only making Miller’s job as the head engineer harder. Suddenly, Christopher Davis, the CEO of the Maritime Mindset runs to catch Miller before he leaves the headquarters.
DAVIS: Hey John! Got a second?
MILLER: Yea, what's going on?
NARRATION: Davis catches up to John, panting to catch his breath.
DAVIS: I just wanted to catch up on how things are going on in your group. Is Elsler working well?
MILLER: Yea, yea. She is, uh, a great joy to work with.
NARRATION: Miller nervously swallowed his saliva with sweat dripping down his forehead. The truth was, Miller recently figured out a serious secret about Elsler that was hidden from every employee, especially Davis. He had decided to keep it to himself until he figured out what to do. Their new creations were coming along really well and he didn’t feel like being the one to ruin moods with bad news.
NARRATION: Davis notices the small droplets of sweat on Miller.
DAVIS: You seem to be a little unusual. Everything all right?
MILLER: Yes! I’m just really tired. Should probably go home and go for a nice walk or something. It's been a really long and tough day. You know? With all of the new ideas coming in, the stress sometimes gets me.
DAVIS: Ok, well…I hope you get some rest and feel better tomorrow. I got to head back to my office so I’ll talk to you later, thanks for updating me.
NARRATION: Miller and Davis both turn away and walk in their own directions. As Miller starts heading towards the bus station, thoughts begin to roam around his head.
INTENSE MUSIC BECOMES LOUDER
He has been struggling to keep a terrifying secret for a long time and it was time to expose the truth to both Davis, and the staff of the Maritime Mindset, who deserved to know Elsler's concealed identity. He had recently witnessed Michelle on a call with her mother, and had overheard her mom calling her Jennifer Elson. He soon developed a theory that Michelle’s identity could be unreal. He wouldn’t let his dream job with an amazing company fall to pieces because of one ruthless and selfish liar that could cause big troubles in the company’s overall appearance.
Scene 2
TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS AND SLOWLY FADES OUT AS NARRATION APPROACHES
NARRATION: It was January 3, 1998. High School junior, Jennifer Elson was piled with disappointed emotions. Not only was she upset with herself, an unknown spark of anger sprouted in her as she read through her test with a final score of 48. She had failed her test. Now, Elson couldn’t just walk home and show her parents this score. She quickly changed it by carefully changing the 4 to a 9. Soon, her most important test would approach and her strict parents would not approve of this grade. Elson calls her mom after school.
ELSON: Hey mom! How’s it going in Detroit?
JANE: It’s good! Everything is very good. How was class today? How’d the exam go?
NARRATION: Elson takes a deep breath and sends her mom her test results.
ELSON: I just sent the results to you.
JANE: Okay… how come you missed a question? I thought you studied.
ELSON: Sorry mom. I tried really hard, I promise I will do well with the final.
JANE: Jenny, you know if you want to get into Harvard, you really have to step it up. Call me again after the final.
ELSON: I know.
NARRATION: Jane hangs up after a disappointing good-bye. Elson sighs as she puts her phone down and looks at the computer screen. She starts to doubt how she will possibly pass the final. This test was basically a practice test and should be 5 times easier. No matter what she has to do, she will pass the next test, make her mom proud, and succeed in her dreams. Even if it meant cheating.
TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS AND SLOWLY GETS LOUDER
NARRATION: When the test day came, Elson would carefully pull up a side tab and put together facts that she would find from the internet.
ELSON: No one will know. How will they possibly detect a copied essay when they have over 1000 students taking the same test? There is no way.
NARRATION: Deep down, Elson knew that this was wrong. It was plagiarizing. If she was caught, it could result in suspension, and even affect her future in the engineering industry. But, this was what she had to do. For her parents, for her reputation. For now, Elson decided to plagiarize on her final.
Scene 3
NARRATION: Elson walks out of a conference room with heavy shoulders. The date was December 2, 2008 in Manhattan, New York and Elson had failed another interview. After flying many miles from her hometown, she was rejected from a company for the third time in a row. This, all for the same reason.
Around 10 years ago, during her younger years, Elson lost confidence and patience in herself after plagiarizing and failing a test. She had to deal with a frustrating suspension for 2 months. Elson had not only promised to her parents, but to herself that this stupid mistake wouldn’t affect her success. She wasn’t going to let that happen. She, in some way, kind of kept this promise. Elson worked extremely hard and studied all day and night, earning her a perfect score in all classes and, surprisingly, was accepted into Cornell University. There, she earned a degree in engineering.
Elson's younger self dreamed of Harvard everyday, but she was honored to have been accepted into Cornell, even after what she did. This made her think that maybe things do go back to normal if you work your way back. Maybe the world might just magically forget about everything that happened. Maybe Elson still did have a chance. However, her plagiarism was permanently carved on her record and companies doubted their trust in Elson. They didn’t let her in their doors no matter Elson’s success after her accident.
SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS EXITING ROOM WITH SIGH
ELSON: I don’t get it. I earn a perfect score in every class as a senior and get into a good school. Yet, they still won’t admit that I made up for my…my…incident.
NARRATION: Elson murmurs to herself as she exits the building . Then, a sudden light bulb pops into her head. She thinks of faking her identity. Well, it wouldn’t really be a big deal because she wasn’t stealing someone’s identity. She would fake her name, family background, and create a fake transcript. It was a lot of work to be done, but Elson had around 4 months to prepare.
ELSON: This is a lot of work. I better get started.
