Western Oregon Journal

Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: Headlines

From left to right Megan Obright, Joanna Walker, Adam Molatore and Kelly Gordon are team captains at the practice session for college bowl. [Click to enlarge]

Students looking for free Friday night, on campus entertainment can attend Western's fifth annual College Bowl tournament on Friday, Nov. 30. It will be taking place in the Werner University Center (WUC) from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. The tournament takes place at 5 p.m. in the Columbia, Santiam, Willamette and Oregon Rooms of the WUC.

Campus teams will compete against each other in several matches of round-robin trivia play. After the preliminaries, wins and losses will be evaluated and leading teams will advance. The next rounds will be held in the Oregon Room. Quarter finals begin at 8:30 p.m., semi-finals at 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., and the final match at 10 p.m.

"College Bowl provides a fusion of student activities and academic affairs," said Amanda Rodino, Coordinator of Leadership and Programs at Western as well as the College Bowl campus tournament director. "It's really fun for me because I'm kind of a trivia buff," she said.

Two teams of four compete for points in each match. Students answer toss-up and bonus questions that may cover literature, science, history, geography, religion, social sciences, multicultural topics, the arts, popular culture, sports and current events.

Rodino said the most exciting aspect for her is "seeing the look on students' faces when they have rung in, and they're not quite sure if they have the answer and then they get it right. After people answer a few questions correctly, it becomes easier."

"I think it seems intimidating because people presume that they have to have a certain intelligence level to be good at it. However, almost anybody could be successful in some part of [the tournament]," said Rodino.

The tournament requires a faculty-staff-student collaboration. A committee works out details for the tournament beforehand. Faculty and student volunteers help facilitate the actual matches by reading questions and serving in official capacities.

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