Amherst schools win with Trivia Bee

By SARAH DUNLAP

Published on October 26, 2007

In the strategy of competitive trivia, a sweeping knowledge of history, pop culture and miscellaneous minutiae does not always suffice - at times, precision can be everything.

At the Amherst Education Foundation's annual fundraising Trivia Bee last Thursday, this was sometimes the case.

Deep into the competition, during the third round of four, master of ceremonies state Rep. Ellen Story asked contestants about Maggie Simpson, the "famously quiet baby" of the television show "The Simpsons." When Story asked the baby's first word, each team's white board shot up, with answers including "beer," "d'oh" and "Homer" scrawled across them. Two teams had the correct answer of "daddy." The judges found the intimately related - albeit different - answer "dada" unacceptable.

"I'm shocked and appalled," said a trivia bee team-member.

Held at the Amherst Regional High School's auditorium, the 13th annual Trivia Bee, co-sponsored by the Amherst Education Foundation and the Northampton Cooperative Bank, raised money for the AEF, an independent nonprofit organization that contributes to the Amherst, Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury public school systems.

Thirty four-person teams competed, each with a business sponsor that donated $125 to the cause. There were three preliminary rounds, with 10 teams competing in each, and a final round in which the three winners faced off to determine the trivia champion.

Preliminary winners were the Academic Ambassadors from the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, the Daily Hampshire Gazette and The Wanderers, who all advanced to the finals and competed in the three-question fourth round.

After correctly naming all of the Seven Dwarfs featured in Disney's "Snow White," identifying the oldest member of the Supreme Court, and singling out the one of four authors who did not receive the Nobel Prize in literature, the Academic Ambassadors took the title.

Smells like team spirit

For competitors perhaps less versed in trivia, team spirit and attire were also rewarded at the end of each round. Per Trivia Bee tradition, teams were dressed in matching costumes that ranged from the understated T-shirts of the Gazette's journalists, to the tinsel Christmas tree hats of the New England Greenscapes team. Story was also dressed for the occasion, in the customary sequined turquoise dress that she wears to the event every year.

With categories of geography, literature, science and nature, history and politics, arts, music and entertainment, sports and leisure, and potpourri, question topics moved freely from the U.S. Supreme Court and Andrew Jackson to movies like "Back to the Future" and "The Big Chill."

Before her team's participation in the competition's second round, Katie Dougherty, who competed with three University of Massachusetts classmates, was initially optimistic about her group's chances at the trivia bee's title. As the topics turned from more familiar territory to questions about opera, currency weight and dated politics, her attitude rapidly changed.

"Scratch that," she said, nervously correcting her earlier statements. "I don't know if my team will do well anymore."

Indeed, her team, sponsored by the Law Offices of Sean Cleary, did not succeed in winning the second round. However, dressed as bumblebees in honor of the occasion, they won the costume award.

Many participants entered the bee for its larger goals and fundraising potential. Michael Cheswick, who competed with a team from Bresnahan Insurance dressed as beatniks in berets and sunglasses, put it simply. "It's a good cause," he said.

As his teammates were touching up one another's goatees and mustaches for added effect, Joe Bass agreed with Cheswick's statements but forecasted a loss. "We're like the Red Sox," he said. "We win every 86 years."