To support Friends of the Congo (FOTC), the ActionPAKT club hosted their annual JeoparMania! Trivia Night fundraiser April 23.
As a collaboration with the National Honor Society and the National Junior Honor Society, the event included students from grades 7-12, with 25 competitors and 89 students attending as spectators to support their friends.
In its entirety, the event raised money for FOTC, a nonprofit organization working to provide support to the humanitarian crisis occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Presently, the unethical mining of cobalt and gold has created a system of exploiting children to work in these mines, funding a war economy where rebel groups fight each other and their government while harming civilians, too. According to their website, FOTC rescues children from the mines, giving them access to education, and has supported class action lawsuits on technology companies actively exploiting child labor.
In their fundraising efforts, seniors Lauren Wong and Anya Pinto organized a trivia competition. To begin, students took an objective test – created by the event organizers – and 16 competitors advanced to Round 2. Rounds 2 and 3 were rapid-fire rounds where event organizer and emcee junior Lauren Wong asked a variety of trivia questions – whose categories ranged from world geography to popular culture. The event culminated in a final round with two contestants going head-to-head, but a third “favorite loser” had the chance to rejoin the game.
For the favorite loser contest, all contestants who had been eliminated in a previous round had the chance to make “campaign speeches” and convince their friends to donate on behalf of them. As students began to pull out their purses and pay higher and higher amounts for their friends, senior Emir Sahin tipped the scales, donating $100 on behalf of senior Malcolm Owusu and entering him back into the final round.
“I really believe in the cause, and I have the most hope for Malcolm. That’s why I donated to redeem him,” Sahin said.
During the final round, there was a Jeopardy-style board with 25 questions on it for point values ranging from 100 to 500. At the end, Owusu emerged victorious, winning the $100 prize.
In Round 1 of JeoparMania, senior Romir Mohan competed against sophomore Pranav Rai. Show host and senior Lauren Wong read out questions while sophomore Sasha-Kay Lindo kept time. Mohan emerged victorious, although eventually getting eliminated in Round 3. (Photo/Anya Pinto)
