The first Monmouth Challenge Quiz Bowl took place as a part of implamenting the strategic plan on Oct. 21 in Pozycki 115 and 205 from 4:30-7 p.m.
Eight teams of students participated, with four to five people per team. Seven faculty members participated and there were a few faculty, staff and administrators who attended to watch or cheer on a team.
Questions were taken from the National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC and some Monmouth trivia questions were developed by Professor Melissa Ziobro, a Specialist Professor of Public History. Each competition between two teams was ten minutes long. Various topics were covered including science, entertainment, literature, and history.
The winning team was team “First Aid Kit” and they received $150 in gift cards to each player. Team “Outta Meal Swipes” came in second and each member received a $50 gift card.
“The Monmouth Challenge encouraged students to participate in an intellectually challenging experience outside of the classroom atmosphere,” said Amy Bellina, Director of Student Activities and Student Center Operations.
The purpose of the event was to bring knowledge usually learned inside a classroom into a fun and friendly co-curricular competition involving both students and faculty, according to Bellina.
Ziobro, explained how the participating teams seemed very excited and said the event was a success. “Any opportunity we have to come together as a campus community outside the classroom only strengthens our bonds- you have to love that,” Ziobro said.
Many students were excited about the prize awarded to the winning team and attributed this as a reason for attending the event. “We would do it again, we were all really excited for the event and loved working together,” said Alexis Scorzelli, junior chemistry student and member of the team, “Final Five.”
“This was a great way for the University to get students and faculty involved in an academic event. It was great that it focused on the strategic plan and we all had a lot of fun working together,” said Kara Snyder , a senior chemistry student and member of the Alpha Kappa Psi team.
Bellina mentioned that there could have been more teams but that they had a strong attendance for a first time event. She also explained that originally they thought that they would get freshmen seminar classes to compete, but they were not able to get those classes to participate. “However, we were very happy to have an activity that captured the interest of graduate students and upperclassmen,” she said.
Committee members for the development of The Monmouth Challenge included Amy Bellina, Professors Melissa Ziobro and Manuel Chavez, Eleanora Dubicki, Jon Cascone, and Professor Greg Bordelon (last semester prior to his leaving). Also, Tony Conard of residential life review rules for The Challenge.
The committee will have a follow-up meeting to review how everything went and follow up with the players and faculty and staff members to get feedback. It is likely that the event will be scheduled in future semesters.
IMAGE COURTESY of Eleonora Dubicki
