Terrific turnout takes on Trivia Night at Charles City Comet Gym

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

More than 180 people turned out to socialize and test their knowledge at the Comet Gym on Saturday, March 4, as the Charles City eighth graders put on their annual Trivia Night fundraiser.

“They have done it all,” said teacher Amanda Rahmiller. “All credit is due to them and I think it looks pretty outstanding.”

Rahmiller began recruiting students in December to prepare for the evening. From there, the kids decided on the Hollywood theme, reached out for donations and sponsors, created the decorations, arranged the food, and generally ran the show.

The eighth graders even solicited help from one of their own, having 300 cookies made by Mutch Oven, a baking business by classmate Addison Mutch.

It took months of work to make all the preparations, but by Saturday night the gym was set up and ready to go.

“It was fun to see how fast things transformed,” said Rahmiller.

With Erik Hoefer serving as host, the crowd went through several rounds of brain-stumping trivia questions.

The contest came down to the wire with first place being decided with a tie-breaking question about the percentage of sweet corn grown in Iowa. Team Oderint dum Metuant, made up of Ellen and Matthew Smith, Chris and Esther Schrodt, and Kaite and Isaac Johnson (with baby Anne Johnson serving as team mascot), secured victory with their correct answer: One percent of the corn grown in Iowa is sweet corn.

Raising funds for the Riverside Cemetery chapel, the Trivia Night event sold 34 tables along with a number of silent auction items. In all, Rahmiller says that they generated roughly $6,200 from the night, which will go toward replacing the mortar in the church.

“Thank you to everyone in the community who supported the students in one way or another,” said Rahmiller. “We hope it was an enjoyable evening.”