SOUTH FORSYTH -- For the second year in a row, BB&T and the University of North Georgia held a business ethics workshop for high school students in Forsyth County.

The event, called Business Ethics: Experience (BEE-2), was held at The Collection at Forsyth Tuesday afternoon.

More than 70 Forsyth County Schools students who are studying a career pathway attended.

BEE-2 was conceived by the BB&T Center for Ethical Business and UNG’s Mike Cottrell College of Business to “facilitate critical-thinking and promote ethical decision-making to our future business leaders,” a letter to the panelists said.

“[This] allows kids to come into a real work environment and understand how ethical business decisions work every day,” said Valery Lowe, Forsyth County Schools College and Career Development director. “The simulations challenge students to come up with decisions and decide what is ethically correct.”

The program was piloted three years ago to evaluate career pathway curriculum and is supported by the Georgia Department of Labor and others in the state leading the charge for ethical business education.

The workshop included simulations portraying various business scenarios in which an ethical dilemma might arise.

“We could do this at school, sure, but taking them outside, into the community, has been very beneficial,” Lowe said.

Student groups visited seven businesses in The Collection and were given time to discuss the scenarios and tasked with finding ethical solutions before presenting their decisions to a panel.

“It was a really good day,” Lowe said. “We educated the students, no matter the career pathway they’re in, in how to make good decisions.”

Panelists included Tom Cleveland and Kristin Morrissey from the Forsyth County Board of Education, Kayla Robins with the Forsyth County News, Jill Zahm with Siemens and Eddie Mienie from UNG.

Rose Procter was the day’s speaker.