By Diana SamuelsThe Daily Northwestern
Students huddled over their beers, whispering across the small round tables – where is the golden spike in Utah that marks the junction of the Transcontinental Railroad? And what ship is now a national World War II Memorial?
The groups scribbled down answers on scraps of paper Tuesday night, trying to win Dance Marathon’s first Trivia Night at the 1800 Club, 1800 Sherman Ave. DM events will continue to fill the calendar for the rest of the year, ranging from a DM Spelling Bee, to a Battle of the Bands, to a 3-on-3 basketball tournament. The events are meant to raise money and awareness until DM, the annual 30-hour dance event to benefit charities, which is held March 7 through 9.
This year’s DM will benefit the Bear Necessities Pediatric Care Foundation, which supports cancer research and assists families of cancer patients. Ten percent of DM proceeds also typically go to the Evanston Community Foundation. Last year the event raised $708,711.20 for the foundation and Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy – which was more than any previous DM event.
DM is currently focused on recruiting dancers, co-chairwoman Krysta Kauble said, and plans to hold a dancer information session on Oct. 8. Dancer registration will be Oct. 22 and 23. DM’s other events are for “increasing awareness and getting people excited about our beneficiary,” said co-chairwoman Tara Corrigan, a Communication senior.
Though DM executives have held information sessions and recruited at activities fairs, the trivia session is “the first fun thing” of the year, said Kauble, a Communication senior.
Trivia Nights are held every Tuesday, and about 50 students usually attend, Kauble said. Participants pay $4 to enter, and the winners take home half the proceeds. Second place also gets a quarter of the money, and third place wins free beer. The remaining proceeds go toward DM, and on a good night the organization can pull in a couple hundred dollars, Kauble said.
“It’s highly competitive,” Kauble joked. “Northwestern is very much full of brainiacs.”
Some trivia nights have themes, such as pop culture or NU, and at occasional “uber-trivia” nights, participants put in $8 and the pot doubles. The event is geared toward upperclassmen, since most nights only students over 21 can get into the bar, though DM does host 18-and-over trivia nights a couple of times during the quarter. DM’s special events co-chairs Jessica Morlock, a Communication junior, and Max Fitzgerald, a Weinberg senior, organize the events.
At the bar Tuesday, teams with names such as “Beer me that trivia” and “We won last time” faced off. Medill seniors Molly Lipsitz and Alex Apatoff, and Weinberg senior Marissa Ronk said they were “pretty die-hard” trivia-goers. Lipsitz and Ronk had been DM partners for three years.
“We have a strong love of all things DM,” Lipsitz said.
“I have a strong love of winning money,” Apatoff added.
Reach Diana Samuels at [email protected].
