Teams Contend for 14th Annual Quiz Night Title

Share with Your People

Which US state is closest to Africa?  Of the world’s five oceans—the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Southern and Arctic—which is smallest?  Which two nations on the South American mainland drive on the left?

Laura WilcoxIs random trivia your hobby?  If so, we wish you would have been playing alongside the best of Nevada County’s trivia experts, March 14, to help raise money for the Laura Wilcox Scholarship Fund.  The scholarship is administered by the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) in honor of Laura Wilcox, the Nevada County teenager killed in the January 10, 2001 shooting at the Nevada County Behavioral Health facility.

Sixteen years ago, Laura won a scholarship from the Sierra Club with an essay she wrote about restoring native salmon to the Yuba River. After her death, the Sierra Club donated the remaining $4,000 of her scholarship to SYRCL to endow a scholarship in her name. So far, thirteen $4,000 scholarships have been awarded to local students.  Funds raised through Quiz Night continue to provide Nevada County youth with a lasting gift in her honor.

Quiz Night 2015

The Peace Lutheran Church was electric Saturday, over flowing with palpable brain power.   Twenty-three teams of Nevada County’s brightest filed into the event center to distinguish themselves as trivia contenders.  The 14th Annual Brains of Nevada County Quiz Night tested roughly 200 erudite participants in eight rounds of puzzling mind benders and two rounds of fill-in-the-blank trivia.  An even mix of old hands and novice contestants alike fiercely brawled for the winning title and chance to have their name engraved in perpetuity on the prestigious Quiz Night trophy.

SYRCuLar Logic

Participants were given ten masterpiece works of art and were asked to identify each one by their creators.  The wheat was separated from the chaff in one of the bonus rounds, when, in honor of International Women’s Day, participants were asked to give the names of thirty-eight famous historical and contemporary American women based on pictures and paintings of them.

BYLTHighlights from the night included the spontaneous dance party and collective chorus catalyzed by clips like James Brown’s Sex Machine in the Musical Colors round.  Quiz Mistress, Janet Cohen, also briefly took a moment to recognize Pi Day at 9:26pm while competitors feasted on an assortment of dessert pies (3/14/15 9:26:53pm represented the first ten digits of π).

Prizes were awarded to the highest and lowest earning teams, in addition to the team with the best costume and most spirit.  This year, Snow White and the Mental Dwarves took the lead and once again returned to the stage as the ultimate trivia masters.  Bringing in the caboose, with the lowest score this year, were The SNAPping Turtles, comprised of local Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership members from SYRCL, the Bear Yuba Land Trust, The Sierra Fund, Sierra Streams Institute and Placer Land Trust. The Quizness Insiders, fully dressed for success, received the award for most spirited participants.

SNAPping TurtlesSpots fill up quickly and space is limited.  If you would like to try your hand at the Brains of Nevada County Quiz Night, recruit a team of eight and contact Jenn at Jenn@syrcl.org to reserve your table in 2016.

Thank you to the following 2015 teams who participated:

Aaron Burr Benevolent Association, BriarPatch Organic Brains, Coldwell Brainsters, Cional Tap, Delayed Scoregasms, I.Q. U Q We All Q for BBQ, Ink Stained Wretches, Know Buddies, Lawyers and Sharkeys, Les Quizerables, Mindful Brainiacs, Nevada County Brain-a-crats, Nevadacidiots, On-Airheads, Open Space Cadets, Penn Valley Pundits, Quizness Insiders, Snow White and The SYRCL Dwarves, SYRCL Skinny Dippers, SYRCuLar Logic, The Hulksters ,The Odd Couples, The SNAPping Turtles

Snow White and Mental Dwarves_ Winners!Thank you to the fabulous volunteers who made this event possible:

Annie, Brenda, Brent, Brie, Carlyle, Erin, Evan, Heidi, Helen, Jane, Janis, Joe, Johnny, Karen, Kevin, Livia, Lucetta, Lyndly, Lynn, Marc, Miko, Miriam, Neil, Peter, Piper and Robert

Thank you to our business supporters for your contributions to this event:

Culture Shock Yogurt, Foggy Mountain Music, Foothill Flowers, Nevada City Winery, & Rainbow’s End Bakery

 

Laura Wilcox Scholarship Recipients

2014:  Sean Anderson
2013:  Anna Weixelman
2012:  Luz Brown
2011:  Jade Won Golder
2010:  Anna Daggett
2009:  Hannah Limov
2008:  Anna Harris
2007:  April McGrath
2006:  Liana Campus
2005:  Nate Rosenbloom
2004:  Myfanwy Rowlands
2003:  Alexis Bloom
2002:  Joan Dudney

Share with Your People

Did you enjoy this post?

Get new SYRCL articles delivered to your inbox by subscribing to our ENews.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *