Point Boro Students Play Hunger Games Trivia Challenge

The odds were in favor of Maggie Stupar, Claire Zaidel, Sarah Fitzpatrick and Laura Brewer, the four Memorial Middle School students that comprised Team Gale, in the school’s Hunger Games Trivia Challenge.

More than 50 students packed the library after school on Tuesday to compete in the hour-long Jeopardy-style Challenge that quizzed the students’ knowledge of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling novel, The Hunger Games.

The second such event in as many weeks, The Hunger Games Trivia Challenge was developed and coordinated by Memorial Middle School and Point Pleasant Borough High School Media Specialist Kim Manser.

“There is no denying the phenomenon that is The Hunger Games,” said Manser. “This book series has captivated the nation and our students are certainly no exception.”

Their excitement was almost palpable as the thirteen Middle School teams battled through several rounds of trivia to win tickets to the hotly-anticipated film version of the book that just started showing in theaters.

The teams, of four to five members, aptly named for characters from the book, alternated choosing one of five questions, with incremental point values, from five separate categories, including, Heroes & Villains, Weapons & Supplies, Who’s There?, They’ve Got Skills, and Location is Everything in the initial Jeopardy Round.

Unlike traditional Jeopardy, each team answered each of the 25 questions in the round and was awarded points accordingly. Points were not deducted for incorrect answers.

Team Cinna kicked off the Challenge, choosing Weapons & Supplies for 300 points, revealing the question, “What did Cato and his allies do to protect their supplies?”

After the allotted 60 seconds, 13 students simultaneously waved their respective team’s dry-erase marker boards in the air, unanimously displaying semantically- varied versions of the correct answer, “planted mines.”

While Manser reviewed each answer, her assistants, Memorial Middle School Teachers Elizabeth Stupar and Courtney Kays, monitored the teams for any attempts to modify answers while recording the scores.

As the point values increased and the questions became progressively more difficult, it was obvious that the students’ knowledge of Collins’ dystopian thriller was extensive.

From identifying simple character details to the origins and contexts of quotes, the teams advanced through the 25 questions of the first round with ease.

By question 13, an astounding seven teams boasted perfect scores with the remaining six trailing closely behind.

By question 16, it appeared that a several-way tie was inevitable, until Team Foxface selected the 400-point block of They’ve Got Skills. Manser posed the corresponding question, an inquiry into the end of the workday for Rue, the District 11 Tribute, while the students excitedly recorded their answers.

Yet despite her warnings to be specific, all but four teams missed a crucial detail resulting the first significant point differential.

Although each team mentioned the four-note tune that signifies the end of Rue’s workday, just four teams specifically identified the role of the mockingjay in the scenario, and as all Hunger Games aficionados are aware, the mockingjay is not just a symbolic affront to the Capitol, but it is also the title of Suzanne Collins’ book trilogy, the first of which is The Hunger Games.

As a result of the fateful 16th question, Teams Cinna, Gale and Cato were left with perfect scores, a distinction they held through the Final Jeopardy Round.

 But like in the TV version of Jeopardy, perfect scores and total score values matter little if the Final Jeopardy question is answered incorrectly.

The Hunger Games Trivia Challenge Final Jeopardy Round was structured just like conventional Jeopardy, where the contestants are given the category and may wager any points up to their total, based on their confidence in the subject.

The students’ confidence was apparently unflappable for at least eight of the 13 teams who bet everything on the Final Jeopardy category Cornucopia, leaving the remaining teams betting anywhere from 100 points up to half of their total, counting, no doubt, on the higher wagers coming up short.

Although seven teams correctly identified District 9 as the district of origin of the tribute that Katniss struggles with at the Cornucopia, ultimately winning her backpack, just one of those teams, a team with a perfect score going into the round who wagered it all, emerged victorious; Team Gale.

As seventh graders Maggie Stupar, Claire Zaidel, Sarah Fitzpatrick and their sixth-grade partner Laura Brewer jumped up and down and began hugging one another, Mrs. Manser distributed their theater gift cards which the girls planned to use together when they saw The Hunger Games this past weekend.

“I’m so happy,” said twelve-year-old Maggie Stupar. “I was confident we would win because I read the book about a million times but I was still hoping.”

Because the teams included four to five players, and there were only four players on the winning team, a drawing was held for the final movie gift card, which was awarded to eighth grader Matt Gerrity.
 
“This is a tremendous turnout,” acknowledged Memorial Middle School Principal Gary Floyd, who stopped by to watch the contest. “Mrs. Manser did a great job getting the kids excited and involved. I think it’s pretty remarkable that over 50 of our students stayed after school to take part in a challenge that assesses their familiarity with this book.”

The Challenge was also held at Point Pleasant Borough High School last week where Matt Drew, Harry Van Wagenen, Sarah Knapp, and Tom Kiesel of Team Katniss, fittingly, bested their opponents to be named victors of the high school’s Hunger Games Challenge.

Both events caught the attention of Superintendent of Schools Vincent Smith, who also weighed in on the Hunger Games Challenge.

“Distractions abound for both middle and high school aged students,” said the Superintendent. “Faculty and staff are encouraged to promote activities that engage positive student involvement. I would like to commend Mrs. Manser for designing The Hunger Games Challenge, an activity that incorporates our students’ interests while also rewarding their enthusiasm toward reading.”