Eighth graders raise funds with Trivia Night event

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

It’s the hardest quiz of the year at Charles City Middle School, but it wasn’t students getting tested. Teams of adults filled the Comet Gym on Saturday, March 2, to test their knowledge during the Sixth Annual Trivia Night Fundraiser.

For the last couple months a volunteer group of eighth grade students have been preparing to put on the fundraiser event.

Picking Disney World as their theme, the students have been busy crafting decorations to convert the Comet Gym into the happiest place on Earth, creating table placements to invoke Disney’s popular theme parks.

Snacks stayed on theme as well, with cookies, cupcakes and cake pops; provided by Hilltop Bakery and Mutch Oven; featuring a variety of flavors and Disney inspired decorations.

From creating the decorations to arranging the food to making promotional materials and reaching out for donations and sponsors, the eighth grade students took charge in nearly every aspect of organizing the event.

“They basically do everything except the questions,” said science teacher Amanda Rahmiller, who has overseen the Trivia Night fundraiser since its inception.

Major sponsors of the event included Cambrex, KCHA, First Security Bank and Machine Tool Engineering Inc., whose monetary donations went toward decorations, food and other expenses to put on the show. Fareway donated water and pop, while several others donated prizes for the silent auction.

“Thank you to everyone in the community who supported the students in one way or another,” said Rahmiller.

Funds raised by Trivia Night go toward the restoration of the Riverside Cemetery chapel, which is seeking bids for tuck pointing on the building’s mortar as one of the final improvements needed to make the building complete.

After a short social hour where teams chatted and enjoyed their snacks, the games began.

With MC Erik Hoefer at the mic, tables of teams racked their brains for the answers to a challenging set of questions on topics from Disney trivia to the prices of goods from a 1960s Sears catalogue.

A special category of the evening was the “Voices of Charles City,” where 10 individuals from the community were asked to read a passage from “Our Heritage: Bicentennial Review of Floyd County,” while the trivia teams guessed who each mystery narrator was.

Kim Scott, Hugh Anderson, Wendy Luft, Dean Stewart, Isaac Wendland, Steve Roebel, Chris Berg, Karl Haglund, Connie Parson and Ginger Williams all lent their voices to the category.

While the adults played, the eighth graders kept busy making sure everybody had enough snacks and taking candid photos of the event, which can be seen on the Charles City Middle School Facebook page.

After four rounds of questions, the big winners of the evening were “Team Bridesmaids,” made up of Josh Johnson, Jake Gassman, Matt Williams, Mike Tracey, Scott Hansen and Scott Soifer. Named so after two consecutive years of narrow second-place finishes, “Team Bridesmaids” finally walked away with the winning trophy.