Trivia Night Attracts 17 Teams
The News Hounds relinquished their trivia trophy last Thursday night, handing it off to the Kiwanis Kiwis, winner of the 2013 Jasper County High School Trivia Night.
The Hounds, holder of the trophy for just one year, finished in the middle of the pack of 17 teams in 2013. Second place went to Predestined to Win, a team made up of the Workman family—Stone, Jean, and Phillips—along with Betty Jean Jordan and John Stork. The Workman anchor won the trivia night title in 2010 and 2011 but its name and the team make-up changes a little each year.
The third place team was SSK, a team made up of Jim Strength, Meredith Strength, and Daniel Kelley.
Oconee National Forest made up of Liz Caldwell, Mara Branch, Stacy Lundgren and Denise Parker won the songbird title. Ms. Branch also received honorable mention for her spirit.
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But the most spirited team award went to “Executive Session,” a team made up of the four new county commissioners, Bruce Henry, Gene Trammell, Craig Salmon and Doug Luke, and Monticello Mayor Bryan Standifer, which also finished in the middle of the pack in the trivia competition.
Trivia night is a fund raiser for several academic teams at Jasper County High School. This is the fifth year of the event, and many in the community turn out to support the students and enjoy camaraderie, free popcorn, and test their wits against others on all types of trivial items.
This year’s event consisted of 20 questions, many multi-part, for a total of 2,270 possible points. The Kiwanis Kiwis, made up of Kasey Reid Hall, Skip and Dianne Davis and John Brown, ended up with 1,215 points, with Prsdestined to Win only five points behind with a total of 1,210.
While team members are working on their answers, a tune plays, and the team can guess the title of the piece and the artist, receiving one point for each.
The trivia competition is hosted by science teacher Dr. Tyson Harty assisted by his wife, Jehan El-Jourbagy. The questions run the gamut from anatomy to professional wrestling to toys and landmarks.
The competition is held annually in the commons area at Jasper County High School. Teams pay $50 each, with a maximum of five people per team. Competition has become so fierce that his year a math teacher and two students were enlisted to keep up with scores, and a spread sheet was tallied.
Seventeen teams competed this year, including several school-based teams, the Bank of Monticello, Jasper Health Services, and others. Everyone is encouraged to start putting together a team for next year’s competition. Churches, civic organizations, or just groups of friends are welcome to join in the fun and share their knowledge of trivial information.
It’s a great way to support the students while having a good time.
Dr. Harty also holds an annual adult spelling bee as a fund raiser for the academic teams, and has hosted a “nerd” night which iwsa not as well received as the trivia night.
At trivia night, in addition to entry fees, the academic teams earn money by selling drinks and pizza, and competing teams are encouraged to purchase a “cheat” to raise more money for the effort. No one used their cheat at last week’s competition.
