Southern California High School Ethics Bowl 2016-2017

February 20, 2017

The 2016-2017 Southern California Regional High School Ethics Bowl competition was held at Chapman University on Saturday, February 4 (building on last year’s first ever Orange County Bowl).

Nine high schools brought 14 teams to compete in this new national program (twice as many as last year!), with our winner playing off with Utah for a spot at the national competition in April.

Students collaborate to develop positions on real world ethical challenges and receive points in competition for the quality of their arguments and the degree to which they listen and respond respectfully and thoughtfully to the other team and judges’ questions, with the goal of fostering serious and respectful public discourse.

The young people involved gain so much in so many ways, through the experience from critical thinking and ethical reasoning skills, to confidence in public speaking and the ability to respond on their feet to questions from the judges.

Judges included faculty and doctoral and law students from Chapman and other universities across the region as well as Chapman alumni and a wide range of community members.

Members of the collegiate ethics bowl teams from Chapman and Cal Poly Pomona, together with Peace Studies and Religious Studies majors, served as moderators. The Bowl was organized under the auspices of Chapman’s Schweitzer Institute by Director Nancy Martin, in collaboration with the
Philosophy
and
Religious Studies
Departments.