Not too many students know what building the Brower Student Center replaced or how many people Lions Stadium holds.
However, at the first annual College Trivia event, held on Oct. 17 in Kendall Hall, fraternity and sorority members proved they could answer such questions well. The event was part of Homecoming Spirit Week 2007. Trivia was a new event for this year's Homecoming agenda.
Sophomore criminology and justice studies major and Homecoming Spirit Week Committee co-chair Nicole Gervato was involved in planning the event.
Gervato said, "We came up with the idea during a meeting last spring and thought it would be a great idea because this year was the 20th Anniversary of Homecoming Spirit Week. We picked trivia because we were able to include things about the history of (the College)."
Trivia was a double-point event of the week. Trivia differed from the other events, which were mostly, according to Gervato, "physical activities. Trivia tests teams' knowledge and memorization skills."
Junior mechanical engineering major Scott Rein, who was one of the winners, explained, "One week before the event, packets were distributed that contained the answers to every question that would be asked. It was 14 pages of random names, dates, events and facts."
The questions were divided into five categories: History, Traditions, Buildings, Student Life and Random. From round to round, the questions changed, but the categories remained the same.
Nine teams, consisting of two people each, competed. The teams were composed of a boy and a girl. Five teams participated in the first round, four in the second and then there was a final question to determine the winning team. Sigma Pi and Delta Phi Epsilon won with a clear margin.
The event "took many months of researching and having dry runs to test the rules," according to Gervato. "Next year, we will work out some of the kinks that we ran into this year."
There was an argument between the hosts and the participants regarding the question, "How many buildings on campus are named after former presidents?" Green Hall was in dispute. It was agreed that Green had been a former president, but neither the participants nor the hosts were sure if Green Hall had been named for him. Ultimately, it was decided to discard the question.
Sigma Pi and Delta Phi Epsilon entered the final round with 5,000 points. Their competitors were the Stars and Stripes, who had 2,600 points. The final question was to list the themes and winners of past Homecoming Spirit Weeks, from 2000 to 2006 - in one minute.
Rein said, "The final round was irrelevant as they couldn't mathematically beat us."
Overall, Gervato said, "The event was successful because the teams said they enjoyed it and told us it was a good idea."
Rein said, "The only downside to this event was that it was by far the least attended competition in Homecoming. The timing - noon on Wednesday - was not favorable to a large turnout. I'm sure the Homecoming committee can build off the mistakes and make this event even bigger for next year."
