In the University Center, on a chilly night in November, when Ferris Outfitters is closing and the baristas are cleaning up at Starbucks, a few groups of people gather in front of the fireplace, waiting. They are teams waiting for an event to start, and that event is Team Trivia Night.
Team Trivia Night is held by the Center for Student Involvement (CSI), formerly part of Ferris’ CLACS office. This is the fourth Team Trivia Night that the organization has put on, and despite the small crowd size, there is a sense of excitement.
According to Nik Kruger, an event coordinator and the promoter who was overseeing the event, the teams were competing for prize money.
“The prizes are awarded on a team basis and just split up based on how many team members there are,” Kruger said. “So the first place gets their share of $40 total, and they get to choose whether their share of that will be given to them as dining dollars applied to their student account or as a gift certificate to Ferris Outfitters.”
While people have shown up for each trivia night, Kruger said that the turnout hasn’t been as much as the CSI had been hoping for, but the turnout that there has been is appreciated.
As the event starts, each team is given pieces of paper to write their answers down. They are then ordered to take their answers to the person reading the questions. Tonight the questions covered anything, from Disney trivia like what the evil queen used to poison Snow White (an apple), to what city had the first modern post office boxes (Paris) and the best-selling album of 1982 (Michael Jackson’s Thriller).
It was nursing junior Grace Knoth’s first time competing at Team Trivia Night, which she attended with three others. She attended because there was a chance to win a prize and it was also just something to do. There were a few topics that she was especially excited to answer questions about.
“If there’s anything nursing related or, like, health-related, probably, [or] something, like, Harry Potter related, I know a lot about that,” Knoth said.
If her team won, Knoth said that she would probably have the money be put toward Dining Dollars.
“I would get Starbucks with it,” Knoth said.
Grad student Marc Uchman was also competing, but unlike Knoth, he had already attended twice before, and he had even won one of those times. He attended for a couple of reasons.
“I like meeting people, and I just like testing my knowledge,” Uchman said.
Uchman also said that he would absolutely recommend that other students attend Team Trivia Night.
If you are interested in attending Team Trivia Night, the next event is Sunday, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m. in the Rankin Lounge at the University Center. For more information, consult Bulldog Connect or contact the CSI by email at csi@nullferris.edu or by phone at (231) 591-2606.