2023 In Review: A Letter from the Director

Dear NHSEB Community,

I hope this finds you well, and kicking off a warm and restorative holiday season with your loved ones. As another calendar year draws to a close, it’s an ideal time to reflect on all we’ve been able to accomplish in 2023. I'm happy to report that the National High School Ethics Bowl is gearing up for its biggest and best season yet, largely due to the efforts of our participants, partners, and supporters. Here are a few key things we’ve been up to recently: 

In the first months of 2023, NHSEB celebrated its tenth anniversary in spectacular fashion with large and competitive Regional Circuits and our first-ever Divisional Playoff events. The season culminated with NHSEB 10: The 2023 NHSEB National Championship. On stage at the Carolina Union in April, in addition to celebrating our top national teams, I was proud to announce several new community awards, including NHSEB's first Coach of the Year award and a new student scholarship named for my friend and colleague, Austin Foushee—an NHSEB alumnus.

In the Summer, we opened our long-awaited Discord Community to student, coach, and organizer users. The new server provides a non-competitive space for discussion and community, and now has over 100 members. After over a year of planning since our "NHSEB10" rebrand in 2022, we launched NHSEB.org, a totally new web presence for the NHSEB program. Favorite features have been a new section of advocacy resources, a collection of fun downloadable resources for our community, a secure hub for Organizers, and a completely redesigned Case Library experience. Our other online services grew this year as well, seeing record-breaking engagement across NHSEBAcademy's learning and preparation resources as well as brand new ways of engaging with NHSEBOne in 2023's Companion Mode release to streamline in-person competitive events.

In the early Fall, our team at the Parr Center published a new paper on the educational value of the Ethics Bowl activity, and outlined measures and strategies for an ongoing program of empirical research to assess key moral and intellectual virtues among participants. This new project was recently awarded a multi-year startup grant by the John Templeton Foundation. We look forward to continuing to share the outcomes of this work with the community in the coming months and years.

Looking ahead, organizers and competitors across the United States are gearing up for our largest field of Regional Competitions in history, a streamlined and competitive Divisional Playoff circuit, and, of course, the NHSEB National Championship, scheduled for April 12-14, 2024 in Chapel Hill.

These impacts would not be possible without generous external support. I am immensely grateful for the efforts of volunteer coaches, organizers, and judges all across the US who make the Ethics Bowl experience possible for students. Thousands of people give hundreds of hours to this activity each year because they believe fervently in the potential of our participants, not merely as Ethics Bowl competitors, but as fully contributing members of moral and political communities. Students come away from our events more critical, more empathetic, and more cooperative—at just a time when these attitudes and dispositions are most needed.

As the year ends, I ask that you consider a contribution to the National High School Ethics Bowl, as well as sharing this message with your networks and communities. Gifts of any size enhance the empowering educational experience our program provides for thousands of students at hundreds of high schools. As one student told us, “There has never been an experience or a greater tool that has made me believe not only that I can be a better person, but that I can challenge the world to be better.” It is our consistent goal to provide this kind of opportunity to every student, everywhere—with your support.

A democratic society depends on citizens’ ability and willingness to reflect on, discuss, and, yes, vigorously disagree about core values in a way that is respectful and constructive. It is these skills which the NHSEB fosters in the students it serves. They are hungry for the chance to work together on the issues that affect their lives. Your generosity helps us realize this mission with students across the United States and around the world. I hope you’ll consider supporting us as we look ahead to another year's end, and a bright 2024.

Happy holidays,

Alex Richardson, Ph.D.

Director, National High School Ethics Bowl
Parr Center for Ethics
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill