Regis Ethics Bowl Team Finishes Second in National Championships

Regis’s Ethics Bowl team placed second out of 24 national finalists on March 31 at the National High School Ethics Bowl Championship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. More than 4,000 students and 500 teams from over 350 schools across the country participated in Ethics Bowl this year. 

The 2022-2023 season marked the National High School Ethics Bowl's tenth year challenging high school students to develop their ethical reasoning and critical-thinking skills through engaging in productive dialogue about contemporary ethical issues. During an Ethics Bowl competition, two teams face off by trying to prove their complete knowledge of the topic in question. Teams are awarded points based on their ability to express their understanding of all facets of the topic, not their ability to promote a single solution to the problem. Teams also get a chance to offer constructive criticism of their opponent's presentation, hoping to poke holes in it. 

The Regis team — Julian Bober ‘24, Andrew Joel ‘23, Hugh Kane ‘23, William Lee ‘23, Leo Lobaccaro ‘23, Toby Platt ‘23, and Gabriel Tramontana ‘24 — competed on February 4 in the New York City Regional Ethics Bowl at Fordham University. They had to prepare arguments for 15 ethical cases, and after five straight victories, they finished in first place and went on to face the Long Island regional winners, the Stony Brook School. 

Regis then defeated the Stony Brook School to qualify for nationals, for which team members had to prepare a new set of 15 cases. Regis finished the group stage with a record of 3-0-1 and went on to win their quarterfinal and semifinal matchups. In the finals Regis faced off against Skyline High School from Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Regis team provided an eloquent and complete presentation on the morality of the use of AI-generated written content for original pieces. They answered the following three questions:

• What moral factors ought companies or media organizations consider when evaluating whether and how to use AI-generated written content?

• What broad social and cultural impacts ought to remain at the forefront of public discussion as we adopt new AI technologies?

• What concerns should AI developers prepare for when designing new AI writing technologies?

When the final scores were tallied, Regis was awarded second place in the competition and finished the season with the highest point differential in the country.

“This is just a great group of guys,” said Mr. Anthony Debonis, Regis theology teacher and Ethics Bowl moderator. “Six out of seven were returning members, and it’s been wonderful to see their personal growth in the context of preparing for and participating in Ethics Bowl over the last two years. Not only have they honed their collective ethical acumen, but they’ve developed greater intellectual humility by leaning into the complexity of contemporary moral issues.”