Students set to compete in Geo Bowl

The quiz will take place in Frey Suite on Nov. 1

Tarik Urvina, Staff Writer

Wayne State College will host this year’s annual Geography Bowl on Thursday Nov. 1 in the Frey Suite located in the Student Center. The quiz takes place from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and is open to the public.

This year ’s event marks the eighth anniversary of the Geography Bowl. Lesli Rawlings, a geography professor here at Wayne State College, has been organizing the Geography Bowl since 2011. It all started as a way to honor Geography Awareness Week, which is the third week of November.

A tradition has developed over the years, the tradition being that participating groups came up with clever names. Names such as Globe Trotters, Team Extra Credit, French-American Alliance and Make America Great Britain Again. The teams who will participate this year in the Geography Bowl are carrying on that legacy with names such as Prestige Worldwide, Ja Booty Kickers, Extra Credit is Nice, Two Clueless Americans, and Talk Softly & Carry a Big Stick.

“We will have eight teams of two and we are expecting to have at least 100 people to show up and watch the event,” Rawlings said.

Rawlings went on to explain how the quiz game will be played.

“We have a buzzer system and whichever team buzzes in first gets to answer the question and the buzzer will cancel one of the other teams, you will have 15 seconds to answer the question,” Rawlings said. “The questions will be about geography mostly but history and a little bit of political science as well, but you don’t have to be a geography major to participate in fact many of the people applying are not geographers, there are interested in education or geospatial technology.”

Dr. Randy Bertolas, a geography professor will be the master of ceremonies for the Geography Bowl. Which means he will be conducting the quiz game and applying the rules.

Aside from the thrill of competing in the Geo Bowl, a variety of prizes are available for teams to win during the quiz.

“It might be surprising, but for sure we will have posters, inflatable globes, items from the Wayne State College bookstore, and WSC Student Association Board,” Rawlings said.

Godfathers Pizza will also donate gift certificates and other items for the Geography Bowl event.

If you don’t feel like playing there will be snacks and beverages are available for members of the audience and door prizes will also be awarded.