Ethics Bowl goes to national championship in Texas

Nine students from the Ethics Bowl Club are among the 32 teams that will compete in the 17th Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Championship, held Feb. 28 in San Antonio, Texas.
 

Buffalo State was the only public school that participated in the Regional Ethics Bowl Competition on Dec. 1, 2012, in Fairfield, Conn. The team took home the championship, beating private institutions, including Dartmouth College, Villa Maria College, Marist College, and St. John Fisher College.
 

"Being the underdog, we just wanted it really bad and we worked really hard," said Jenna Tomasello, president of the Ethics Bowl.
 

The team had 11 weeks to prepare for the regional competition, and the students spent 8 to 10 hours per week practicing, according the club's faculty advisor, Dr. Julian Cole.
 

"This is a dedicated group of students," he said. "As a coach, it's just incredibly gratifying to have a group of students you've been working with that closely to come in at the right moment and do that well."
 

The regional competition consisted of three rounds, in which opposing teams had to present their argument on a certain issue before a panel of judges and answer questions based on their presentation.
 

The topics of the presentations came from 15 case studies, which students had explored in their preparation for the competition. Some of the issues included the use of technology, global warming, euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, gender issues, academic integrity, and relationship issues.
 

"I'm preparing them to be able to think on their feet, to answer those kinds of questions, and try to think through some of those issues," Cole said.
 

According to Tomasello, practice and confidence is what helped the team win.
 

"I think our team has great chemistry," she said. "We were all really close and we all had a common goal. We were very strategic and professional looking."
 

According to Joshua DeMont, treasurer of the Ethics Bowl, the club advisors also contributed to the club's victory.
"They deserve a lot of credit," he said. "I haven't seen instructors who are this passionate, this willing to make sure everybody understands well. They have such an eclectic range of skills that they offer."
 

The students meet with their advisors almost every day to practice and they have discussions about the topics that might come up at the national competition.
 

"There's been tears shed over these discussions," DeMont said. "It makes people realize things about themselves they might've not known previously. So we've gotten really close and I feel really fortunate to know everybody on this team."
 

Maria Yankova can be reached by email at yankova.record@live.com.