Charles City eighth graders excited to host annual Trivia Night fundraiser

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

It’s time to put your thinking caps on as Charles City Middle School prepares for its annual Trivia Night fundraiser.

Members of the community are invited to join the trivia fun on Saturday, March 2, at 7 p.m. in the Comet Gym. This is the sixth year for the event, organized by science teacher Amanda Rahmiller and a selection of her 8th grade students.

“I feel oddly prepared for being a week out,” said Rahmiller.

Planning for this year’s trivia night began last semester before winter break, as the group of 19 students came together to brainstorm ideas for the evening’s theme.

This year’s theme will be based on the Disney World theme parks, decided after the students brainstormed several ideas and narrowed them down with a series of votes.

“It was close with Alice in Wonderland,” said Tommy Boss, one of the 8th graders who have been working diligently to turn cardboard into a magic castle.

For the last several weeks the students have been busy creating decorations for the event, collecting cardboard and crafting supplies to turn the Comet Gym into the happiest place on Earth.

“The castles we’ve been working on for a long time,” said Addison Ellis. “We’re really proud of how they turned out.”

“I’m really excited to walk in and see it all put together,” said Joselin Bonnsetter.

Much like the theme parks themselves, decorations for the trivia event are split up into different themes. Each quadrant of the gym will be set up to invoke a different Disney World park, including the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, the Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. The students who have personally visited Disney World drew upon their own experience at the parks to bring the Disney experience to the event.

“I think Trivia Night might be better,” said Kylie Pickar.

Eric Hofer will return as the trivia host for the evening, reading off questions on a variety of subjects from local history to sports and, of course, a round of Disney trivia.

“Everybody has a part in coming up with questions,” said Ellis.

From creating the decorations to promoting the event to collecting donations, the student-led project has been an opportunity for the group of middle school kids to gain experience in planning their own show and working with the area business community.

“The businesses in Charles City have helped us out a lot,” said Ellis.

Taking charge in just about every step of the trivia night preparations, the students reached out to local resources, from procuring snacks and drinks from local grocery stores to borrowing tools and supplies from the high school shop class.

Working on the project has also given them an opportunity to work with each other in a way they normally wouldn’t, bringing together students who haven’t generally interacted with each other.

“There has been a lot of working with different kids you’re not used to working with,” said Madison Vance.

As always, funds raised during the event will go toward the restoration of the Riverside Cemetery chapel, which has been an ongoing project for Rahmiller’s 8th grade classes over several years. This year, like the year prior, will see the funds dedicated to replacing mortar in the historical building.

Riverside Cemetery has long been a popular environment for the middle school students, serving as an outdoor classroom to learn about local history.

“We all really enjoy being out there and learning so much,” said Pickar.

So far it looks like the competition for this year’s trivia night will be steep, with 28 teams already registered a week ahead of the event.

“We’ve already reached the maximum from last year,” said Pickar.

Tickets are still available for teams of up to six that want to participate. Those interested can contact Rahmiller at 641-245-5132 or e-mail CCRiversideTrivia@gmail.com.