GMC News

The Ethics Bowl team from Georgia Military College (GMC) at Augusta is bringing home top honors with their first-place win at the national championship of the 2014 Ethics Bowl. The five-student team competed on March 15 in Chicago at the competition for two-year colleges, scoring a record-breaking undefeated finish with five wins and zero losses. Approximately 50 students from 7 colleges around the nation — ranging in location from California to Baltimore — vied for the title ultimately awarded to GMC Augusta. The Ethics Bowl is a presentation of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) to provide students across the nation an opportunity to leverage the benefits of researching contemporary ethical issues, refining and polishing critical thinking skills, developing core values, and ultimately helping them become future leaders. Teams must prepare to present and debate their opinion before a panel of judges on the 12 ethical cases the APPE provides. James Brady, Ethics and Critical Thinking instructor at GMC-Augusta, is the lead adviser and coach of the GMC Ethics Bowl teams. Brady says winning the top honor from the APPE for two-year colleges shows the students are meeting the high standards set forth by GMC. “We’re extremely proud of our students, who worked long and hard to prepare for this event. Their efforts and achievement underscore GMC’s dedication to the concurrent elevation of character and intellect,” says Brady. “The value of earning the top national honor from such an esteemed ethics organization is an enormous achievement. This first-place trophy is an acknowledgement that our students are truly living representatives of GMC’s ‘Character Above All’ philosophy.” During the competition, students debated the pros and cons of wearable technology (Google Glass, for example), publishing a deceased author’s work against specifications in their will, and the benefits and drawbacks using domestic drones. Brady says the students are thrilled their many hours of research, preparation and practice are bringing home the first-place win. The 2014 GMC-Augusta Ethics Bowl Team members are: Ashley Cordell, Ethics Bowl Team Co-Captain, of Augusta, Ga. Terrell Glover, of Conyers, Ga. Christopher Hamb, Ethics Bowl Team Captain, of Harlem, Ga. Christopher Shipman, of Hephzibah, Ga. David Walker, of Evans, Ga. Cordell was the captain of the 2013 GMC-Augusta Ethics Bowl team, which placed third overall nationally. In addition to the GMC Augusta Ethics Bowl Team, the student team from GMC Milledgeville placed third overall in the Ethics Bowl in Chicago. For more information about The APPE Two-Year College Ethics Bowl, visit https://appe.indiana.edu/.

The 2014 National Ethics Bowl Championship team is pictured with their trophy: (L-R): James Brady, Chris Hamb [Team Captain], Ashley Cordell [Team Co-Captain], David Walker, Chris Shipman, Richard Herdegen, and Terrell Glover.

Pictured: GMC-Augusta Ethics Bowl Team Co-Captains with the National Championship trophy, Ashley Cordell and Christopher Hamb.