The Upper Darby Ethics team won the Delaware Valley Regional Ethics Bowl!!
For the second year in a row, Upper Darby High School was in first place going into the playoffs of the Regional High School Ethics Bowl held at West Chester University this past Saturday. This year’s team was undefeated in its first three rounds against Conestoga, Wilmington Friends, and Penn Charter, winning seven out of nine judges. In the quarter-finals, Upper Darby dominated Salesianum; in the semi-finals, Camden Catholic; and in the 6th and final round, faced off against powerhouse Cherry Hill East, winning the judges by a score of 154-147.
The UD Dream Team of Sabrina Gollotti (12), Delanie Jordan (12), Sylvia Langston (10), John Peter Quillen (12), and Chloe Thompson (10) have been preparing for the event since September and had a special chemistry and cohesiveness not seen in previous years. Words cannot adequately convey the scholarship, rigor, humility, and school spirit our students exhibited while competing against elite private and prep schools in our region. Their camaraderie, preparation, and respect for one another were second to none and their performance was nothing short of brilliant. The team will be competing for the PA state title on February 15th.
The annual Ethics Bowl is a competitive debate-style event that promotes ethical awareness, critical thinking, civil discourse, civic engagement, and an appreciation for multiple points of view. Although it is collaborative, the competition is rigorous and demanding. The fifteen case set included topics such as: vegan pet ownership, deciding which nations are deserving of hosting international sporting events, the ethics of tourism, social bonding with AI models, boycotting as a tool for activism, and the ethicality of voting third-party or choosing not to vote at all as a form of civil protest. Students researched the facts of the cases and studied the philosophies of Aristotle (Virtue Theory), Bentham (Utilitarianism), Kant (Deontology), and Hobbes (Rights-Based) to formulate and support their stances.
Last year I wrote that Upper Darby finally had a seat at the table.I stand corrected: Upper Darby High School is seated at the head of the table.
