Village Quiz for All

This past Tuesday, one of the end-of-term Village-wide activities was held. The ASYV students competed in the tri-annual Village Quiz competition! The Quiz is organized and coordinated by first and second year students who are members of the Leadership and Development Club. All term, the students work to come up with questions that can range anywhere from, “What is the name of the Pope’s car?” to “How many staff houses are there in the Village?” In order for students to advance to the final round of the Quiz and compete in the amphitheater at the Village level, they must first win the competition in their family homes and then become one of the top two in their grade. The concluding battles are between eight finalists, two from each grade.

Mandela Wilson, Senior 4 (10th grade) student of the Martin Luther King Jr. Family is President of the Leadership and Development Club and had his hands full pulling together the event. This is Mandela’s first year in the Club, but he has already proven himself as such an asset that he was elected as Club President during the first term. “The biggest challenge of presenting the Village Quiz is coordinating all the small details. It is my first time being President of any club, so it took me a while to find my confidence, but my Club has trust in me and we work together,” said Mandela of his preparation for the event.    

The event this past week turned up quite a stir as families and grades became quite competitive rooting for their own ambassador to take home the winning title. Between rounds, the Club planned some special events that relied upon participation from the audience, such as extra trivia questions and a lyric quiz. It is always exciting for the kids to support their peers, but this week’s Quiz provided the opportunity for everyone to be a part of the spectacle and the crowd LOVED it. Special prizes, such as T-shirts and watches were given to the successful audience members, chosen at random via a raffle.

Senior 5 (11th grade) student Maxime Iryumugaba of the Steve Jobs Family took home the winning title of Quiz champion after 5 rounds of diverse trivia. For Maxime to win the ultimate prize, a Kindle tablet and T-shirt, he had to successfully answer the miscellaneous trivia of the first round, indentify the nationality of various flags in the second round, answer 10 questions about religion in the third round, correctly name the founders of major international companies in the fourth round, and a final round of increasingly tricky scattered trivia questions. Contestants in the final round were allowed one lifeline to the audience, similar to the game of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. 

When asked of his reaction to this term’s Quiz, Mandela responded: “This year’s quiz was even better than last term and better even than last year. There are many new innovations that we have included such as adding participation from the audience. Next term there will be something new to look forward to, so get ready! Anything can happen in the Village Quiz!” 

Although it was Maxime who won, the cheers from the audience implied that it was a win for all! It was an exceptional performance by all of our finalists and special congratulations to Maxime! Well Done!          

Submitted by Sasha Friedman, 2014 Village Fellow