How many gold medals does Michael Phelps have? Who was Murray State’s first and only female president? What bird did Benjamin Franklin want to be the United States of America’s national bird?
If you answered 18, Kala M. Stroup and turkey then you may have had a chance at the first place trophy being handed out on Murray State’s campus Saturday night.
At 6:30 p.m. last Saturday in the Curris Center Stables, the Honors Program Student Council (HPSC) put a fun twist on raising money in the first Murray-O Party trivia and games night. They hosted a new philanthropy event that raised $406 for Needline, a local agency that lends assistance to those who need it in Murray and Calloway County.
“It was a Mario Party inspired trivia night,” said Demi St. John, sophomore from Edwardsville, Ill. “There were 10 rounds of trivia with categories ranging from geography and sports to music or Murray State history. In addition to the trivia, there were also four mini-games, just like you would find in Mario Party, for teams to earn a couple of extra points.”
St. John, a co-chair for the philanthropy committee that hosted the event, said the Murray-O Party committee worked on developing the event all semester.
“We started off this semester knowing we wanted to put on an event that was totally different than what the Honors Program had done in the past,” St. John said.
The committee spent the first three months of the semester piecing together the event without any prior experience with trivia nights.
“In one of our first meetings we talked about how a trivia night would fit well with the honors program, but we wanted something a little bit more fun,” St. John said. “‘We added Minute-To-Win-It’ style games to the event and gave it the unique theme, and that just added so much more energy and spirit to the night. We also made the decision to raise the money for Needline early on in the semester. In the planning stages, our committee decided that we wanted the money to stay in Murray and help support the community.”
After working on making Murray-O Party perfect all semester, St. John said seeing the entire event come together was really enjoyable.
“For me, the best part of the event was watching all of the teams react to the trivia questions and hearing the conversations between participants about the correct answers,” St. John said. “Also, my favorite mini-game was ‘Let’s Make a Deal’. In order to win your team had to have the most items out of five random items. I stood in five different locations throughout the room and if you had the item that was called, such as a Burrito Shack punch card, you had to find me first to receive a point for your team. It was so exciting to see the enthusiasm of the participants because it meant we had accomplished one of (the goals we had set for the event).”
The event had first place and second place winners and recognized them with trophies and fifty dollars for the first place team. The Sigma Phi Epsilon team won first place and a team of Honors Program professors took second place.
St. John said there has been much enthusiasm and encouragement on the success of the event and that the HPSC plans on bringing back Murray-O Party for a second round as the Honors Program’s philanthropy event next year.