A couple weeks ago my very close friend, Rama competed against very good ethics debaters in the 2019 ethics bowl and asked me to blog about it but I could not. Even though I was in attendance, I knew only she could do justice explaining the experience and I gave her a very shallow excuse on why I couldn’t blog about it. My excuse was that I am a self-absorbed writer and can only write about myself which true by the way. She said she was going to write it anyway because she needed to get some things off her mind and I decided to share my platform with her. Great idea because I never knew how amazing of a writer she was until now. I can’t wait until she finally starts blogging (fingers crossed).
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my fellow ambassador and Mellon scholar, ethics bowl champion and most importantly, my friend, Rama.
Hi everyone, Rama here! Becoming an inspirational and motivational speaker has been always a dream of mine, the only problem, I have a public speaking fear. Well, not anymore! thanks to philosophy. Who could imagine adding philosophy to my life would help me fulfill my dream? It all started with a philosophy class I took last year and from that day my journey to discovering myself began. Philosophy made me discover something inside of me I wasn’t aware of. It made me realize that I enjoy philosophical and ethical debates not only that, but I’m also good at it. Joining Philosophy Club was my first step to this great discovery. I come to Philosophy Club to de-stress and to make sense of things happening in the world, good or bad. There is nothing more enjoyable to me after a long day at CCBC than engaging in Philosophy Club discussions. The club opened the door to something even bigger. It led me to join the CCBC Ethics Bowl team. The Ethics Bowl is an experience that holds a special place in my heart. When the team asked me to join, I was interested but hesitant at the same time. I was worried that I’m not going to be able to give 100% participation due to my other commitments.
Professor. Van Horn and the team encouraged me to join, even after I explained my situation to them. They encouraged me to participate with the team in the discussion sessions we had before the day of the Ethics Bowl. I really appreciate that they valued my effort in thinking critically to solve these ethical debates. I didn’t have the intention to present with the team due to my public speaking fear. Then after each discussion session, I got more and more interested and my courage increased little by little. Then Professor. Van Horn suggested that if I’m not busy the day of the Ethics Bowl, I can come and join the team. The fact that he believed in my abilities to present in the Ethics Bowl, helped me with the doubts I had about myself. On the day of the Ethics Bowl, I watched the first and second round and I didn’t participate. I watched our team advancing and winning. They were doing a great job and that encouraged me to participate in the third and last round.
Professor. Van Horn and the team asked me if I wanted to present in the third and last round. I joined but I was so nervous because there was a big risk for me to join in the third round. A risk that if I mess up, the team will lose the round and all their hard work in the previous rounds will go to waste and I could be the reason for that. They knew about my public speaking fear, yet they asked me to present. We won and I overcame my public speaking fear that day.
Every time I talk to someone I know about our win in the Ethics Bowl, my heart jumps from happiness because to me it’s way more than just winning. It’s about freedom from the limitations I once put upon myself which prevented me from discovering my potential. It’s also about making new friends. I made friends for life. Friends who welcomed me and accepted me during a tough and dark period of my life where I experienced rejection from some people around me. I had so much fun last year that I decided to join the Ethics Bowl team again this year. We were in second place, “debatable”. I did ten times better than last year presenting our arguments. In my eyes, we are winners. There is always next year but there is a problem. Two of our strongest team members are transferring to UMBC, which means we will be facing them next year. Don’t worry I have a plan. I will make them teach me everything they know before they transfer to join the opposing team.
Lastly, I would like to thank Professor. Van Horn and Professor. Walsh for training our team and for helping me improve my speaking skills. A special thanks are to my friends Gavin and Caroline who kept convincing me to join the team and kept telling me that I will be a great addition to the team.
Grace here! I told you she’s good. Thanks again Rama for gracing my readers with your presence and sharing your experience with them. I have personally witnessed you talk about your ethics bowl win and can testify to the joy it brings to you.
What a way to end the semester. On a sad note, next semester is my last semester and oh my! where did time go? I can’t wait to share my final experience with you. I promise it’s going to be fun but can’t say you won’t shed a couple tears because I am already crying. GOODLUCK on your finals and have a wonderful Christmas break.
