For many students at Oklahoma Christian University, OC’s Ethics Club is one of their favorite parts of college– and their passion shows in their success at national debate competitions.

Led by business professor Dr. Jeff Simmons, the Ethics Club meets twice a week to prepare for competitions by reviewing a set of cases that explore a variety of practical and professional ethical topics.

The teams prepare for topics ranging from ethics in the classroom and personal relationships to social issues and politics.

In November, two teams from the OC Ethics Club participated in the Texas Regional Ethics Competition, hosted by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE): the OC Aguilas team and the OC Eagles team.

The APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl contains three levels of competition, starting with twelve regional competitions that take place across the nation during the months of November and December.

To succeed in the competition, students must demonstrate the ability to think critically on their feet about an ethical topic. Judges select a case from the set of topics students have been preparing for and each team is asked questions to dive into more complex areas of the issue.

Their hard work preparing for the competition paid off! Not only did the OC Aguilas team place second in the competition and earn a ticket to the The National Ethics Bowl, but the OC Eagles team also placed in the top 10 in the competition.

Judges score the competitors based on the intelligibility of their arguments, focus on ethically relevant considerations, avoidance of ethical irrelevance, and the deliberative thoughtfulness of their argument.

The OC Aguilas team’s exceptional performance landed them in the top 32 teams in the country, a feat which earned them a spot in The National Ethics Bowl Competition this spring. The team will compete in the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl on March 4th and 5th in Portland, Oregon.

The OC Aguilas team is composed of Julia Branum (‘23) SR, Marketing Management), Caden Cauthon (‘26), Grace McCurdy (‘25), and Rielyn Glavan (‘23).

The OC Eagles team composed of Sydney Buyers (‘26), Analiese Dawson (‘25), Isaac Detherage (‘23), and Rachel Detherage (‘23) placed ninth.

Congratulations to our Ethics Teams on your success at the Texas Regional Competition! We are so proud to have such exceptional students representing OC.