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Since 1994, Eagan Rotarians have presented ethical decision-making challenges to Eagan High School student leaders during an annual Ethics Workshop. And since 2009, other Rotary clubs have used Eagan’s model to do the same. Over 62 workshops have been presented in more than 20 different high schools, reaching over 4,300 students.This eight-hour leadership experience received a statewide award.“The Ethics Workshop is my first choice as a Rotarian to give back to the community. The students are amazing,” said Quinn Hutson, co-leader in the Eagan Rotary Ethics Workshop Expansion Committee. “We are very pleased that other Rotary clubs are having our committee present to their local high school students.”
The youth learn valuable business ethics lessons through lectures, small group discussion, inquiry and challenges. A key segment presents a scenario where students become officers of a troubled corporation. They are instructed to develop ethical strategies to make the entity profitable, while wrestling with budget, public image, production, and employee crises.
“Kids go into the workshop feeling one way about the world and they leave the workshop feeling much differently and seeing the bigger picture,” said Eagan High School Assistant Principal Pete Zak. The program has confirmed the power of Rotary’s Four-Way Test for making decisions.