From the Director’s Desk: Dr. Karen Rezach

We’ve enjoyed a very productive and exciting season here at the Ethics Institute. In addition to the summer intensive program we hold for our upcoming year’s Bioethics Project Cohort for two weeks in June, we offered our weeklong High School Bioethics Program for students both within and outside of Kent Place. We created this program last summer because of the tremendous interest in bioethics among that age group, and this year’s program’s success proved that we need to continue to provide opportunities beyond our school. We’re also thinking about other ways to bring bioethics into our Upper School, among them journal entries, podcasts, and independent research. 

Speaking of podcasts, we’re very proud of our REBOOT podcast, “Tapping In,” which was named a winner in the 8th-Annual Student Podcast Contest sponsored by The New York Times. Congratulations to Tara Khurana ’26 and Ayushi Wadhwa ’27 on their excellent work! You can listen to the podcast here.

We’ve also been making revisions to our existing Upper School Ethics classes: the Ethics 9 course and Portraits of Empowerment, our Ethics and Economics course. The arrival of the Bloomberg Terminals to the Center for Innovation was greeted with great enthusiasm, and we’re thrilled that our students will be able to use them to enhance their ethical understanding of the influence of economics in our everyday lives.

We’re planning another Empowered Parent series for all three divisions, and are working with our Ethics Institute Parent Liaisons to make sure we discuss issues that are relevant and meaningful to navigate the ethical dilemmas of parenting in the 21st century. I hope you’ll participate!

At the end of August, we’ll be working with student leaders from our Upper School REBOOT program and the leadership staff of our ethics journal, Lodestar. Both programs are student-run and student-led, and we look forward to facilitating conversations about their vision and goals for the 2025–26 academic year. The REBOOT students have already been asked to speak at the Harding Township Public Schools this fall; outreach to the greater community in bringing awareness to the virtual world in which we live continues to be part of our mission.

Yes, it’s an exciting time at the Ethics Institute! I hope to see you soon, and that you’ll get involved with the work we do, whether by attending our workshops, writing for the Ethics Everywhere newsletter, or just coming in for an “ethics chat.” Until then, do enjoy the rest of these bright summer days!

Karen Rezach, Director of The Ethics Institute