Trivia Night furthers educational needs in Rockton School District

Trivia Night furthers educational needs in Rockton School District
By Marianne Mueller
REPORTER
Teams of eight assembled at Stephen Mack Middle School on Saturday evening, Feb.2 ready to test their knowledge at the 2019 R.E.E.F Trivia night ready to have fun in the name of educational opportunities.
Larry Schubert kept the fun rolling serving as the events host. Schubert laid out the rules. No reference materials, electronic devices and no phone a friend were allowed. The option of purchasing Mulligans gave teams the chance to have one free answer. Spelling was not judged unless it was specified in the answer. Teams chose a name and took a guess at what their final score may be. If a tie was to occur and a team guessed correctly that would be a tie-breaker.
Lots of laughter filled the room as a fierce, but friendly competition took place in eight rounds of trivia; in each was a different category. Eight questions per round were asked and answered plus one bonus question at the end of each round.
Subjects in each category covered a round where song lyrics were given and players had to name the song title, Netflix, 2018, a Year in Review, identifying a person based on clues who would have been 100 years old this year, the Illinois Bicentennial, Groundhog Day, Color My World which included a question about Elvis Presley’s first Cadillac, (originally painted pink, but found to have been painted blue) and technology questions about “Our Mobile World.”
In between rounds bids were placed on silent auction items and raffle prizes were drawn, and a full concession stand offered a nice selection of brain foods such as candy, pizza or beverages.
Event Volunteers and those behind organizing the event were recognized by Shubert.
Emerging as the top two teams in 2019 were the First Place “Lowslearners” and the second place “The Raven Claws.
The first place team received squeeze brains, trophies and a T-Shirt and the second place team was awarded brains and gift certificates.
Teachers, students, community members and a team from the Hononegah Woman’s Club joined the fun in support of the school district.
Behind the mission of the event is raising money to be used toward teacher needs in classrooms. Since its inception the Rockton Education Elementary Foundation has achieved great results toward these goals. Money raised from events such as Trivia Night have helped obtain items such as a kiln for Rockton Grade School, E-Readers at Stephen Mack Middle School, Fast Track Scooters, a digital scale for eighth grade science classes, a document camera, an Orff Music Xylophone program, Non-fiction books for the Whitman Post Elementary Library, a climbing rope and landing mat at Rockton Grade School, Calculators used by 7th graders, Second Step Violence Prevention Program, Musical Instrument expansion at RGS, Science labs for first grade classrooms, programs providing multicultural experiences, student enrichment programs in arts and sciences, Library books, plus contributions toward Stephen Mack Middle School’s Track and Field. Each of these was obtained by classroom grant requests. Most notably the R.E.E.F foundation made history via a donation of $1,000 to the Burpee Museum and Discovery Center; associated with the ‘Quarters for Kids’ program. The R.E.E.F Foundation is growing the future of young people in our area. REEF has carried on this tradition since 1992 when a group of citizens banded together in hopes of enhancing and enriching educational opportunities or programs helping all children in the Rockton School District. From these beginnings an endowment fund was developed for solicitation of donations.
The 2018 R.E.E.F Trivia Night brought in finds that will be added to a total of over $150,000 previously raised at past Trivia Nights. All funds will be distributed and used toward furthering educational goals in the Rockton School District!