2006 High School Ethics Competition

The College of Business is conducting its 10th annual High School Ethics Competition on Friday March 10, 2006. The primary objective of the competition,
according to College of Business dean Dr. David Steele, is to provide high school participants a better understanding and appreciation of the increasingly
important and complex subject of ethics. This competition draws teams from public and private schools in Brevard, Indian River and Seminole counties. The
competition challenges high school students to explore the subject of ethics, reflect on how ethical principles are related to the decision-making role of
business men and women, and to evaluate the ethical adequacy of actual decisions made by managers. For more information on entering a team in the 2006
ethics competition please contact Jean Grunke, administrative assistant to the dean, at jgrunke@fit.edu or (321) 674-7327. During the day-long competition,
students compete as part of two-to-four person teams. Each team analyzes cases based on ethical situations in business and presents its solutions to a
panel of judges comprised of business leaders in the community. Not only do the teams benefit from the experience of the competition, the winning teams
receive monetary awards for their college education funds. Florida Tech is awarding each member of the first place team a four-year $8,000 per year
scholarship to the College of Business; and each member of the second place team a four-year $6,000 per year scholarship to the College of Business. The
ethics competition is also supported by the Community Educators Credit Union, which has committed to providing monetary awards in the amounts of $500 per
member for the first place place team; $250 per member for the second place team; and $125 per member for the third place team. Among the area schools that
have participated in the ethics competition since it began in 1997 are Melbourne High, Cocoa Beach High, Palm Bay High, Bayside High, Astronaut High,
Melbourne Central Catholic, Florida Air Academy, St. Edwards Upper School, Eau Gallie High, Satellite High, Sebastian River High, Covenant Christian and
Vero Beach High. The competition follows a general format to accomplish its goals. Participating high schools will designate a coach (or coaches) for the
competition. The coach will select a team, with a minimum of two and a maximum of four student members; coaches from participating schools meet in the fall
with College of Business faculty and staff to discuss the ground rules for the upcoming competition. (The competition is always scheduled to coincide with
spring break at Florida Tech.) Members of the faculty select a case study that they consider to be both interesting and rich in learning potential. They
also develop a protocol for use by competition judges in evaluating the performance of participating teams. Copies of the case and protocol are mailed to
the team coaches prior to the break for Christmas vacation. Judges are chosen from a large list of volunteers including judges, elected officials, senior
attorneys, top-level executives, health care professionals and educators. These volunteer judges express great satisfaction with their participation in the
event, and invariably request to be invited to future competitions.