Midtown’s Ethics Bowl team has defied expectations in its first year, earning a spot at the 2025 national competition in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The team is preparing to navigate complex moral dilemmas on the national stage.
For Dr. Cheryl Nahmias, one of Midtown’s Ethics Bowl coaches, this journey is both new and familiar. Having previously coached Ethics Bowl at Decatur High School alongside her husband Eddy Nahmias, she saw firsthand the impact of Ethics Bowl and was eager to bring that experience to Midtown.
“Before COVID-19, several years ago, my husband and I coached a team,” Dr. Nahmias said. “We brought Ethics Bowl to the high school where I was working, Decatur High School, and my husband is a philosopher, so it was a natural fit. This is my third year at Midtown; one of the things that I was missing was coaching Ethics Bowl, so I thought to myself, ‘My husband and I should try to get a team going here.’ We recruited a couple other kids, and this was sort of our test team, just to try it out and see how we would do, and we qualified for nationals.”
Despite being a first-year team, their success has not come as a shock to Dr. Nahmias.
“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised at how well we’ve done because I think a lot of it comes down to strategy and how you approach competitions,” Dr. Nahmias said. “I think my husband and I, as the coaches, we’ve learned a lot from our previous experiences, and we’ve been able to bring that to our new team.”
A key framework in Ethics Bowl is mastering a set of 15 ethical cases, which all competing schools analyze before debating at regional and national levels.
“When [students] go to their competitions at the state level and then the regional level, we’re all arguing these same cases, and the cases range from everything from things like the impact of artificial intelligence to things about which countries should be allowed to host international sporting events,” Dr. Nahmias said. “I just really love watching the team, because you have to play as a team. It’s not about individuals; you have to be able to really have a cohesive approach and work together as a team.”
Beyond the competition itself, members of the team have found that Ethics Bowl has shaped how students engage in discussions, helping them to develop critical thinking and respectful discussions. Junior Eve Nahmias, a team member and Dr. Nahmias’ daughter, has seen this impact firsthand.
“I think that usually when you see people having conversations in debate, it’s very argumentative, but [Ethics Bowl] helped me learn how to talk about different nuanced situations in a more constructive and building-upon-each-other way,” Eve Nahmias said. “Also, I have learned a lot of facts and gained a lot of new perspectives on different things for the cases we’ve been doing.”
Junior Sloane Crisler that staying informed in a world where misinformation spreads easily is crucial.
“I’m really passionate about political and international affairs because I feel like they affect everyone,” Crisler said. “It’s just so important for people to be informed and educated because misinformation is so widely spread.”
Beyond staying informed, Crisler also believes personal growth comes from engaging with different perspectives.
“It just helps you grow as a person and helps you with your thinking skills,” Crisler said. “So you have to be willing to work with others and to hear other perspectives, which is sometimes difficult for anyone. But you also have to develop your own insights and do your own research.”
Junior Eric Snell has taken a similar approach, seeing Ethics Bowl not as a time to argue and win, but rather a place for students to learn to approach topics with curiosity and openness.
“I try to approach every argument with an open mind, even if I have a strong personal belief on the topic,” Snell said. “Ethics Bowl isn’t about proving someone wrong — it’s about understanding different perspectives and reasoning through complex issues. I’ve learned that the best arguments aren’t just well-supported but also acknowledge nuance and competing viewpoints. That balance makes discussions more productive and engaging.”
Snell believes being part of Ethics Bowl has influenced his perspective on everyday ethical dilemmas.
“Ethics Bowl has definitely made me more thoughtful about the moral implications of everyday decisions,” Snell said. “I used to see a lot of issues as more black-and-white, but now I recognize the gray areas and underlying values that shape people’s views. It’s also made me a better listener — I’m more focused on understanding why someone thinks the way they do rather than just preparing my response.”
More than just a competition, Dr. Nahmias believes Ethics Bowl fosters a unique approach to debate — one rooted in collaboration rather than conflict.
“We specifically discuss and argue about really contentious issues in a way that is productive, constructive and civil, and so the emphasis is not on winning the argument,” Dr. Nahmias said. “It’s on advancing everybody’s thinking towards the best possible solution and to do that in a way that is respectful and is calm is based in logic, evidence and bringing real ethical frameworks to thinking about how to solve complicated problems. It helps them realize the benefit of listening to other people and trying to understand complicated issues that can’t be solved in simple ways.”
With the national competition approaching on April 11, Snell said he is eager to put his skills against competitors.
“I’m excited to see how we stack up against some of the best teams in the country,” Snell said. “The competition is intense, but it’s also really rewarding to have deep discussions with people who care about ethics as much as we do. To prepare, we’ve been refining our arguments, practicing with different cases and working on our teamwork — because strong collaboration is just as important as having solid reasoning.”
