CPP’s Outreach Invitational Wins APA/PDC Prize For Excellence and Innovation

Photo: Center for Public Philosophy

Congratulations to our partners at UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Public Philosophy on their selection as the 2022 winner of the American Philosophical Association and Philosophy Documentation Center’s Prize for Excellence and Innovation in Philosophy Programs! The winning project was CPP’s Outreach Invitational High School Ethics Bowl, which has recently been updated to include a Spanish-speaking program.

In 2016, the Center for Public Philosophy at UC Santa Cruz developed a program to bring the Ethics Bowl to high schools that would not otherwise have the resources or coaching to experience the special form of collaborative debate. The lynchpin of the program is a cohort of UCSC students who train to serve as the coaches. The coaches introduce the Ethics Bowl to the high school students and prepare them for a culminating Invitational Ethics Bowl on the UCSC campus. It is a low-stakes, non-intimidating way for students to get their feet wet, and have an active, empowering experience on a college campus. For the UCSC coaches, it offers a meaningful opportunity to apply their passion and skills in a different context. A wide array of community members and cross-disciplinary faculty participate at the event. Everyone spends the day together collectively thinking about what it means to be effective, collaborative thinkers and listeners, especially on contested issues. In 2019, a Spanish-speaking component was added to the program, further extending the diversity of students, coaches, and judges. The program’s success is due particularly to the sustained support of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, the Marc Sanders Foundation, and the University of California.

From the APA-PDC Prize Selection Committee:

The Outreach Invitational High School Ethics Bowl Program has been selected for the APA/PDC Prize for Excellence and Innovation in Philosophy Programs. This program provides a low-stakes way to introduce students to the Ethics Bowl, in the process conveying to them a sense of belonging at college, making college feel more accessible. With over a dozen schools participating, the success of this program is due to the innovative work of the program administrators and the involvement of undergraduate students and members of the community beyond the university in creating a public forum to advance the public good.