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South Barrington resident leads Harper’s Ethics Bowl team to Texas
South Barrington resident Eli Longbottom (middle) is a member of Harper College's Ethics Bowl team, which earned its first-ever bid to nationals, beating out competitors from prestigious four-year colleges and universities. | Photo courtesy of Harper College
Updated: January 21, 2013 2:09PM
SOUTH BARRINGTON — Eli Longbottom, a Harper College sophomore from South Barrington, was part of the college’s four-member Ethics Bowl team that landed an opportunity earlier this month to compete in a national championship in San Antonio, Texas.
The team, made up of Harper students, tackles a variety of issues including plagiarism, paid maternity leave and the legalization of drugs in Guatemala. The team earned the trip to Texas for the championship on Feb. 28 after beating out competitors from nearly a dozen four-year colleges in the Midwest, including the University of Michigan and the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Recently, Longbottom shared more about himself.
Q: How long have you lived in Barrington? A:
Since fourth grade.
Q: Why did you pick Barrington?A:
My dad was working for United Airlines and its headquarters is in Chicago, so we moved here, which worked well because we always had family here. My mom is from Barrington.
Q: Where are you originally from?A:
I was born in Miami, Fla., then we moved to Fairfax, Va., for nine years.
Q: What about Barrington makes you proud?A:
I just really like Barrington as a town.
Q: What is your favorite community event?A:
Either the orchestra or theater performances at the high school. I think they do really well.
Q: What is your favorite restaurant or entertainment venue in town?A:
La Mesa.
Q: If you were mayor for the day, what would you do?A:
Something to overhaul all the traffic downtown, and working to optimize the train schedules.
Q: What has changed in Barrington since you moved here?A:
There are more things coming south here, like the mall. There’s more development in the area.
Q: What inspired you to become involved in the Ethics Bowl?A:
I really like talking about different kinds of issues. I wanted to keep talking about those issues after taking classes. And it’s real-life issues. One case was about a professor in Arizona who was accused of plagiarism. He said it was OK because he used Wikipedia. So research really isn’t beneficial, it’s more how you think it through. And he’s a professor, so he’s held to higher standards.
Q: What got you interested in ethics?A:
My first year of college, I had to take ethics and philosophy classes. Of all the subjects in school, it’s one of the most relevant to real life.
Q: What are your future career goals?A:
I’m thinking of going into computer science at University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana.
Q: What is your proudest moment or greatest achievement?A:
I think right now I’m just happy with how I’m doing in school.”
Q: What are you reading?A:
I’m reading ‘Battle Cry of Freedom.’ I’m about 300 pages into it.
Q: What is your favorite movie?A:
Pulp Fiction.
Q: What’s on your iPod?A:
Classic rock: Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, anything along the lines of those bands. Also, Miles Davis.
Q: What’s your favorite vacation destination?A:
I really like going downtown to the museums instead of going somewhere far away.
Q: Are you a summer or winter person?A:
I definitely like the summer.
Q: What is your favorite Chicago sports team?
A: I’ve got to go with the Bears.
