The Philosophy and Ethics Club is a group at Ballard High School that participates in the yearly Washington State Ethics Bowl. In a typical match of the Ethics Bowl, a moderator first reads the question that  will be discussed. Then one team conferrs and presents their thoughts on the question. This is followed by the other team discussing and then presenting on the first team’s presentation. After this the first team gets to respond, and then the match wraps up with a judging period. 

“There is a group of students who meet twice a week,” Language Arts Teacher Kristin Storey said. “They prepare for the Ethics Bowl.” 

In this year’s competition, the bowl started on February 3rd, 2024. The Ballard High School team competed with other high schools.

“We did compete,” Storey said. “But we didn’t place this year.”

The Ballard High School Ethics team did place second years ago but was unable to place this year. 

“The club has been running for seven years,” Storey said. “The actual ethics bowl has been running in Washington for about ten to twelve years.”

The winner of this year’s competition was Lakeside School team one, with The Bush School coming in second, and Lakeside School team two coming in third.

“I can give an example prompt,” Storey said. “Should public schools serve chocolate milk as an example?” 

A different example of a question is should parents give birth to kids to have the child’s DNA to help with certain things. Ethics has become a more popular topic over the past few years. 

“When competing in the ethics bowl, you compete in teams,” Storey said. “Ten people from Ballard can compete in the ethics bowl, five people on each of two teams.”

Competing in the Ethics Bowl is not the only thing that Ballard High School Philosophy and Ethics Club does however.

“Ethics club members have a task they do each week,” Storey said. “Each week they curate a list of ethical topics that could be discussed and then discuss these topics.”

These ethical discussions are also a good exercise to the mind. The discussions don’t normally come to a solution.

“Anyone who wants to join the Philosophy and Ethics Club is welcome to,” Storey said. “Just come in any Tuesday or Thursday after school and join.”

The Philosophy and Ethics club at Ballard High School takes place in room southwest 103 and if you go at 3:50 after school and want to join, you probably can. 

The Philosophy and Ethics club overall is just a fun inclusive club that comes up with ethical topics to discuss.. The club also competes in the yearly Ethics Bowl competition in Washington State. 

The Ethics Bowl has expanded over the years and now takes place in 34 of 50 states.