On Feb. 23, the Decatur High School ethics bowl team competed in the regional matchup, hoping to qualify for nationals. Despite losing to the Florida champions, junior Ethan Joyce believes that the season was a success.

“The other team was really skilled but I think everyone enjoyed the competition,” Joyce said.

In order to qualify for the regional matchup, the team competed online in the Tennessee state tournament, ending up with the best record out of all Georgia teams at 3-2.

“The way that it works is that there were teams from Tennessee and teams from Georgia, and they had two different leaderboards even though it’s the same competition,” Joyce said. “So we might have been facing off teams from Tennessee, but our win-loss record was actually compared to other teams in Georgia.”

Due to a change in coaching midseason, Decatur ended up competing with only one team and had several changes in their lineup.

“Things were a little bit odd at first, but we were able to adjust that,” Joyce said.

At the tournament, Joyce competed alongside Quinn O’keefe, Julian Fortuna, Lukka Wolff and Gabu Richardson.

One new challenge that Joyce felt the team had to work out was communication in a virtual environment.. “Because there are a lot of time restrictions, we have to figure out the speaking order,” Joyce said. “When we have to go into breakout rooms and sort everything out, it adds another layer of complexity.”

The Ethics Bowl team will conclude their season with a scrimmage in the coming months against a Tennessee team.