Which community is the smartest on campus? On Wednesday, the final round of Campus Trivia: Smartest Community on Campus settled the debate once and for all.
The Lil’ Einsteins, who represented College-in-the-Woods, triumphed in the campus-wide trivia competition. Team members Nick Vega, a sophomore majoring in English; Jeremy Bernstein, a sophomore majoring in philosophy, politics and law; Joshua Krinsky, a sophomore majoring in finance; and Adam Lipke, a freshman majoring in accounting, defeated the teams from Newing College, Dickinson Community, Hinman College and Mountainview College.
“It feels great,” Krinsky said. “Everyone was rooting against us; they didn’t think we stood a chance. But we showed them what true champions look like.”
The competition consisted of four rounds with five questions each, and was organized by one member from each community’s Executive Board. Teams answered questions from categories such as math and science, music, history and Binghamton. Thirty seconds were allotted to answer each question.
Sample questions such as “Who was the only U.S. president to serve two non-consecutive terms in office?” (Grover Cleveland) and “Who said ‘Blue flower, red thorns. Blue flower, red thorns. Blue flower, red thorns. Man, this would be so much easier if I wasn’t color-blind!’” (Donkey from the movie “Shrek”) stumped more than half of the teams.
The score was close for most of the game. CIW, Dickinson and Hinman ended the first two rounds in three-way ties.
Mountainview was always one point behind, but managed to catch up at the end of the third round, making it a four-way tie. Before announcing the winners, a recount from CIW occurred since teams were unsure that the score was kept accurately. Each correct question earned teams one point.
Wyatt Chartrand, a junior majoring in finance, represented Newing by himself. He cited the community’s proactive nature and his personal experience competing in state-level trivia competitions as a source for his confidence heading in.
“I think the leadership mentality makes Newing the smartest community on campus. We have a leadership class which I take that I definitely think has helped prepare me,” Chartrand said.
According to Krinsky, the CIW team relied on their ability to evade intimidation and their regular game show viewing.
“Never in our lives have we been scared of anything,” Krinsky said. “We watch ‘Jeopardy’ at least four times a month. We didn’t have anything to be worried about.”
The Lil’ Einsteins will receive four $75 gift cards to a Student Association-approved store or business of their choice. To be SA-approved, an establishment must not sell alcohol, drugs, firearms or cigarettes.
The team currently has plans to get gift cards to Amazon.
The Lil’ Einsteins worked together to achieve victory, admitting that nobody was forced to carry the team; the win was a collaborative effort.
“Everyone answered questions equally, and it was a team effort,” Krinsky said. “In the end, we ended up on top.”