Kent Place Students Present Their Research At Bioethics Project Symposium

More than 500 guests visited Kent Place School’s campus for its second annual Bioethics Project Symposium on Thursday, February 20. The Symposium was a culminating event, which marked the end of an intensive program developed through a partnership with The Ethics Institute at Kent Place School and The Hastings Center in Garrison, NY. The event was planned and hosted by the nine Upper School student-scholars whose work was presented through a series of workshops. The sessions were designed by the students and were highly engaging with thought-provoking questions and case studies presented for groups to discuss and analyze.

The nine students were selected last spring after an extensive application process to participate in the project titled, Donor: What is the Value of the Human Body? Their work began with a four-week summer internship, where faculty from both The Ethics Institute and The Hastings Center gathered for 20 hours per week to provide the students with intensive introductions to ethics, bioethics and advanced study of the ethics of transplantation.

When the school year began, the students worked on their individual research projects through collaboration with Hastings Center researchers and Kent Place faculty, who served as mentors. These projects were presented at the Symposium and included topics relevant to the topic of transplantation, such as facial transplants, xenotransplantation, kidney markets and qualifications for blood donors.

“The Bioethics Project Symposium was an exciting and inspiring day that featured the work of our nine Upper School students who have now earned the title, “Bioethics Scholar,” stated Dr. Karen Rezach, Director of The Ethics Institute at Kent Place School. “Each scholar presented her research in a manner that informed, interested and challenged her audience to think in new and dynamic ways about the ‘donor’ issues in our society today.”

Congratulations to the Bioethics Project participants: Carolyn Bailey '16, Amanda Donoghue '16, Alexa Girasole '16, Alyssa Hwang '16, Michaila Kaufman '16, Alison Nestle '14, Kristen Plate '15, Noelle Rosa '15 and Laura Whelan '16.

The Hastings Center has for more than 40 years led the field of bioethics, conducting interdisciplinary research on some of the most contested in medicine and science. Over this time, it has developed a distinguished track record of bringing diverse people and perspectives together in workshops that are respectful and substantive. Its process is remarkably conducive to both finding areas of agreement and clarifying where moral differences exist.

The Ethics Institute at Kent Place School, founded in 2007, fosters the study of ethics and ethical decision-making in primary and secondary school communities and provides ethics resources and programs to Kent Place constituents, independent schools, private schools, public schools and the greater community. For more information please visit www.kentplace.org/ethics