Rotary Club of Vienna Engages Marshall High School at Ethics Day

Today the Rotary Club of Vienna participated in Ethics Day for the 19th consecutive year with George C. Marshall High School held at Westin Hotel in Tyson’s Corner. The event was sponsored by the Vienna Rotary Club and the Vienna Optimist Club.

The entire 500 student senior class of Marshall High School was in attendance, participating in four modules to cover different ethical topics: a Mock Trial, the Bad Samaritan, CyberEthics and Designer Babies. Along with the assistance of volunteer moderators and table leaders, the students were led through various real-life scenarios, had an open dialogue and asked to reach decisions on topics that made students think critically about responsibility, accountability and morals.

Matt Brennan, the Bad Samaritan moderator explained the importance of Ethics Day as “This is a great program that should be at every high school. I stay involved every year because it gets kids to think about morals and responsibility in a way that would otherwise not have exposure to.”

Stephen Schatz, table leader and Marshall High School class of 2014 who participated in Ethics Day during his senior year of high school said “The event opens your eyes because you already know the situation. Now it makes me reassess the situation. I ended up asking myself more questions than I did the first time.” Schatz later went on to say, “My favorite part about this experience was learning about the other kids and realizing our own unconscious bias.”

Shellie Abel, another table leader for today’s event, explains why she volunteers annually for Ethics Day. “It makes me quite optimistic about the future of this country at the end of each Ethics Day. I realize that our kids are smart, involved and engaged in today’s world.”

Rotary is an international organization that was one of the world’s first service organizations. As Rotarians, we are 1.2 million neighbors, friends, and community leaders who come together to create positive, lasting change in our communities and around the world. The Rotary Club of Vienna has been the primary financial and staffing entity for Marshall High School’s Ethics Day from its inception through today.

Ethics Day is one of the many activities of the Rotary Club of Vienna to give back to our community in terms of treasure, time and talent. If you are interested in learning more about the Rotary Club of Vienna, please contact our Membership Chair, James Cudney, at James@Cudney.org

Details about the club can be found at www.viennarotary.org