A couple of times a semester, students may be found making their way to the library after school to take part in a Fort Hamilton National Honor Society tradition: trivia night. Putting their knowledge to the test, students come together to compete while raising money for a good cause.
So far, NHS has held two trivia nights taking place on Thursday, October 21st, 2024, and Wednesday December 4th, 2024. These two events have allowed students to come together in teams to compete against one another in different subject areas like mathematics, science, history, literature, popular culture, among others. Students created unique team names as they saw who could press the buzzer the fastest to answer questions correctly.
NHS Recording Secretary Vernon Demir is in charge of organizing and hosting trivia nights. When creating questions, he tries to include a blend of different topics so each participant can contribute to their team in their own unique way.
“I think my favorite part of trivia night was just seeing the teams try to work together to answer the questions,” he said. “I especially had so much fun with the questions people struggled with. To me, this was the core thing that made it special, just seeing all of NHS work together.”
The look of laughter on students’ faces as they competed against their friends and struggled to figure out the answers to the questions was a testament to the good time students had.
“Trivia Night was the perfect mix of fun and chaos,” said NHS Member Services Chair Melissa Bushi. “My friends and I spent half the time laughing, the other half puzzling over tricky questions, and maybe yelling at each other a little when we disagreed. But honestly, the best part was how our hilariously wrong answers somehow brought us closer together. It was chaotic and competitive, yet so much fun.”
Trivia nights also contribute to a good cause. For the first trivia night five dollar participation fee which totaled to $205 was donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, along with an amount matched by Principal Houlihan, who also attended the event. For the second trivia night $230 were raised and donated to the Ali Forney Center, an organization connecting disadvantaged LGBTQ+ youth to housing and healthcare.
Ms. Houlihan’s attendance at the first trivia night inspired the style of the second, where each team was required to recruit a teacher to join their group. This added another layer of competition to the event and provided a bonding experience between students and their teachers.
Team Hall of Fame, which participated in the second trivia night and was led by math teacher Mr. Hall, won the competition. Mr. Hall and his students delivered their answers both quickly and correctly. Hall shared some advice on how to better one’s trivia skills.
“To be good at trivia, I think the main thing is just being open to knowledge coming at you from all over the place,” he said. “Thinking about the questions in the game the other day, some of them were about subjects we learn in school, some were about music, theatre, art, and film. The more you try to learn about what’s going on in the world and the more you take an interest in listening to different kinds of music or watching different kinds of movies, the more likely a future trivia answer will find its way into your brain.”
Whether they got 100 points or 10, everyone left the library with smiles on their faces as they continued discussing the trivia questions.
“The biggest takeaway from trivia night was probably just the reminder that as much pressure as we all face every day, we’re still all here at Fort Hamilton to work together and have as much fun as we can — the whole school building just feels different after hours, when there aren’t any classes going on, and it’s nice to experience that no matter what sport, club, or activity you’re a part of,” Mr. Hall said.
Trivia nights will continue to be held by NHS in the coming year.
“For future trivia nights, I just hope to continue the fun,” said Demir.