UW News

January 23, 2015

UW Center for Philosophy for Children to host High School Ethics Bowl Jan. 31

UW News

From left, Seattle Academy students Hannah Lewis, Harrison Grad, Alec Guthrie, and Alexander Karbo with their first-place trophy from the 2014 High School Ethics Bowl.

From left, Seattle Academy students Hannah Lewis, Harrison Grad, Alec Guthrie and Alexander Karbo with their first-place trophy from the 2014 High School Ethics Bowl.

The University of Washington Center for Philosophy for Children will host the 2015 Washington State High School Ethics Bowl on campus Saturday, January 31.

The event is modeled after the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl and involves teams of high school students competing to analyze wide-ranging ethical dilemmas. Twenty-three high school bowls will take place around the country during this school year. Winners of the regional events will advance to the National High School Ethics Bowl, to be held in April at the University of North Carolina.

UW undergraduate and graduate philosophy students have been helping to coach the local high school teams. Members of the UW School of Law, College of Education and Philosophy Department are among the judges. Other judges include Washington state Solicitor General Noah Purcell and Washington state Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu.

Student teams from a number of Seattle-area high schools will participate, including Roosevelt High School, Rainier Beach High School, Chief Sealth High School, STEM High School, Lakeside School, Seattle Academy and The Bush School.

The event is sponsored by the UW Department of Philosophy, Program on Values, School of Law and the College of Arts & Sciences’ Division of Social Sciences and the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.

The event is open to the public. The first three rounds are from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in various classrooms, and the semifinals and finals are from 1 to 4:30 p.m. in rooms 260 and 264, all in Savery Hall.

For more information, contact Jana Mohr Lone, director of the UW Center for Philosophy for Children, at 206-221-6297 or mohrlone@uw.edu.

Watch a video about the 2014 Ethics Bowl: