Lutgert News

FGCU Rist Family Foundation High School Ethics Competition 2022 Winners Named

May 04, 2022  / Lutgert News  / Tags: Rist Family Foundation, Management, High School, Newton Ethical Leadership Initiative (NELI), Scholarships, Ethics, Competition

After a COVID hiatus, Florida Gulf Coast University’s Newton Ethical Leadership Initiative (NELI) once again hosted its annual FGCU Rist Family Foundation High School Ethics Competition, this time as an individual event. Students were asked to respond to a real-life event in which an auditor finds that the CEO and employees of a mental health organization are “Doing Bad to Do Good.” They are knowingly requesting reimbursement for services they are not delivering, but they are providing other services they deem critical for their clients, but just aren’t reimbursable in the way the government policy is written. Students have to decide the right thing to do and then find strategies for overcoming the reasons and rationalizations that people are likely to present as roadblocks to doing the right thing.

• The 1st place recipient, Dominic Mammen of Island Coast High School in Cape Coral, was awarded a $500 scholarship.
• Second place went to Jaelynn Lias of Three Oaks Middle School in Fort Myers and she received a $300 scholarship.
• Three third place scholarships of $100 were awarded to David Merveilleux, Jesse Caputo, and Riley Steffens.

Dr. Eric B. Dent, Uncommon Friends Endowed Chair Professor commented, “It was amazing to read the top submissions. Students as young as 8^th grade provided very mature analyses and arguments not only for how they would do the right thing, but how they would interact with others to influence them similarly.”

A gift by the Rist Family Foundation to FGCU enables important ethics events and teachings such as this one.