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South Putnam, Greencastle make semifinals of Ethics Bowl
A pair of Putnam County teams made quite a showing during a recent Ethics Bowl competition hosted by the Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University.
With 18 teams virtually taking part in the eighth-annual Indiana High School Ethics Bowl Competition, both South Putnam and Greencastle made the semifinals of the competition before falling to the two teams that ultimately met for the title.
Also competing in the event was a team from Cloverdale High School and two additional GHS teams.
South Putnam coach Leah Henry, with the assistance of Prindle Institute Hillman intern and senior Grace Nunnelee, pulled in wins across the board with a 3-0 record on Saturday, Feb. 5, advancing them to the Sunday, Feb. 6 quarter and semifinalist bracket.
In Sunday’s competition, South Putnam played both Purdue Polytechnic teams, narrowly missing pulling in a semifinal win.
“Our team this year was very young and inexperienced, which makes this performance very special,” Henry said. “I told our students that they would have to get this all together and make it happen, and they did. We don’t have any built-in club or specials time and everything they did to prepare was done outside of school.”
Henry also had high praise for Nunnelee.
“Our DePauw coach, Grace Nunnelee, has been such a blessing to our team as well,” Henry said. “We are thankful that the school paid for our entry fee and let us represent our community. We hope to make a strong showing at the national level this summer.”
The South Putnam team consisted of juniors Ava Watson and Gillian Jones, sophomores Caroline Hodge and Wyatt Kendall and freshmen Lydia Burkhart, Noah Couch and Aiden Bright.
GHS brought the heat yet again with three teams led by coach C.J. Shields. Greencastle 1 had a 3-0 record on Saturday, with Greencastle 2 and 3 falling short with just one win each.
With senior Maieasha Rashid, juniors Rebecca Hebb and Boyd Ensley and sophomores Isaac Hertenstein and Cam Benedix, Greencastle 1 advanced to Sunday’s quarter and semifinalist brackets, falling short of Herron High School in the semifinal round.
“I am very proud of the effort and dedication that all three GHS teams showcased during the weekend’s competition,” Shields said. “The team of Maieasha, Boyd, Rebecca, Cam and Isaac were great representatives of GHS as they competed in the quarter and semifinals. It was fun to see the reward of three months of studying.”
Greencastle 2 featured Bella Green, Ben Huff, Hyrum Hale, Hannah Seaman and Mya Weddle, while Greencastle 3 included Gabriel Dewey, Liz Kavanaugh, Grace Long and Sabina Seaman.
Cloverdale coach Chelsey Meluch’s team consisted of junior Lillie Jones and seniors Chris Benetiz, Tabiah Foster, Kendal Hamilton, and Kendall Faletic. The team celebrated its first win in Round 3, which pushed it out of Sunday’s competition.
“The students overcame many challenges including the virtual format of the contest and were able to represent Cloverdale well during the competition,” Meluch said. “The students’ favorite part of the Ethics Bowl is developing their thoughts about topics that most people don’t set aside enough time for in order to truly understand them. They learned new strategies of thinking that allowed them to analyze topics from many different viewpoints.
“The students now feel like they can discuss difficult topics with anyone, regardless of their personal feelings, because they better understand the framework of a respectful, ethical conversation,” she continued. “I am proud of the students’ efforts, especially their willingness to take on conservations that are moral dilemmas for most adults.”
In the finals, the Herron team topped Purdue Polytechnic for the title.
An ethics bowl differs from a debate competition in that students are not assigned opposing views. Rather, they defend whichever position they think is correct, provide each other with constructive criticism and win by demonstrating that they have thought rigorously and systematically about the cases and engaged respectfully and supportively with all participants.
Both Greencastle and South Putnam will be invited to compete in the Prindle Institute’s fifth-annual Summer High School Ethics Bowl Invitational on June 25 and 26. Schools from across the country placing first through fourth in their regional competitions are eligible to participate.
The National High School Ethics Bowl and the regional ethics bowls it supports are competitive yet collaborative events in which students discuss real-life ethical issues. In each round of competition, teams take turns analyzing cases about complex ethical dilemmas and responding to questions and comments from the other team and from a panel of judges.
Data from NHSEB surveys show that this event teaches and promotes ethical awareness, critical thinking, civil discourse, civic engagement, and an appreciation for multiple points of view.
For more information about ethics bowl, or K-12 educational resources provided by the Prindle Institute, visit https://www.prindleinstitute.org/