Mercer’s new Ethics Bowl team went to Chicago to participate in the 2025 Two-Year Regional Ethics Bowl and finished as quarterfinalists in a field that included a total of 16 teams from across the country. Mercer sent six students to the event, which took place on November 22, 2025.
Ethics Bowl is a new organization at MCCC, headed by faculty coach Philosophy Professor Ken Howarth, with a focus on major ethical dilemmas and philosophical debates.
The team’s website explains that the ethics bowl “is a unique, collaborative experience for undergraduate students that provides valuable educational experience in practical and professional ethics… to see who has thought most deeply and presented their arguments most clearly on cases based on today’s most pressing issues.”
Nuray Temiz, a Liberal Arts major on the team says, “Honestly, I think as a team, we weren’t really in it to win it because it’s the first time Mercer has ever done something like an ethics bowl.”
Temulun Togochog, who is also on the team said, “It really developed and worked on my critical thinking skills.” When asked what has it taught her about ethical decision making in her own life, she says,“I think it’s that morality, it might sound a little basic, but morality is really relative.”
Logistics and teamwork seemed to be one of the team’s major struggles, however, especially after a student had to drop out of the trip at the last minute, forcing the group to quickly reorganize. But the managed to keep going and do well.
Professor Howarth said, “I think actually winning one of the matches that we did, gave them kind of an affirmation that they belonged there…We did get outperformed, but we are hoping to build on our success.” He added, “They did a good job in what they achieved.”
The team, unofficially called Chex Mix, was led by Captain Jyotika Aggarwal, who, according to Manashvi Vats, a Computer Science Major, was “like an anchor for me and I think all the other members.” (Note: Aggarwal is Editor in Chief of The VOICE).
While the first two rounds were a bit of a learning curve, the team regrouped during the lunch break.
Antonios Kantarakias explained [that] “A lot of us were freaked out of the water when it came to like sudden shifts in what we were essentially trying to tackle. And then Jo [Aggarwal] could like step in and essentially help us course correct. And it’s like, oh my goodness, without her, we’d be dead fucking last.”
Those who will still be at Mercer next fall are looking forward to taking the momentum from this semester and going to the next competition stronger. First timers being quarterfinalists demonstrate the teamwork and effort each student made.
The consensus among the team members was summed up by Vats, who said, “we were really happy with our work, we were happy with how we approached the cases, we were happy with the discussions we had.”
