Photo by Greg Clark | Students worked in teams during Trivia Night hosted at the visitor center.
On Wednesday, Nov. 14, the Office of International Education hosted an international trivia night event at the Welcome Center.
The event consisted of six different rounds, with each round having 10 questions. Every round had their own distinctive topic. The topics for the different questions touched on an array of different information from countries all over the world. Certain rounds were dedicated to just general knowledge of countries whereas other rounds were centered about a country’s culture, flag and entertainment. There were even questions about current events questions about certain countries.
Students competed against each other with their friends to answer questions to score points. The team with the most points at the end of the night all won gift cards to the bookstore. This event was a part of a week-long celebration of International Education Week.
Shelley O’Connor, a cross-cultural coordinator at the University of Rhode Island, helped to coordinate the events for International Education Week.
Overall, O’Connor was very satisfied with the International Trivia event as a whole. “I think this was a really fun event,” O’Connor said. “It got people from all over the world together and put their minds together to come up with the answers.”
The direct planning of the event was done mostly by graduate student Amanda Alfano. She took care of writing the trivia as well as picking the venue and promoting the event with assistance from the Office of International Education.
The process of planning proved to be taxing for Alfano as she had spent weeks getting the event as perfect as she could. “Writing the trivia itself was the time-consuming thing,” Alfano said. “It’s taken days to perfect and do research on different questions and different types of music. It’s taken a few weeks and I’ve been working on it since the end of September.”
Overall, Alfano wanted to create a fun program that promoted international education and globalization.
Before settling on the Welcome Center, Alfano had a few places in mind as to where she wanted to set the occasion. However, she settled on the building because she felt how comfortable the space was. “I liked the look of the Welcome Center,” Alfano said. “I think it’s very comfortable in here.”
Alfano spoke on how much it is to be educated on different cultures as a whole. She stated that she feels people need to be more inclusive toward other cultures as it can help you in the working world. “It’s important to know how to navigate that and be as open as possible with different individuals,” Alfano said. “I think it’s great to learn about different countries because it gives you a whole other lens to look at things.”
Studying abroad also proved to be a very valuable experience for Alfano as she states that her time studying in England was the highlight of her entire college career.
“Getting to answer questions about my own culture because people were super interested and then meeting people from a different culture although we share the same language [was amazing],” Alfano said. “I think immersing yourself in another culture makes you adapt. It’s super interesting.”