Question: King Minos of Crete created a labyrinth to house a dreaded half-man, half-bull monster. What is the name of this creature, and the name of the hero who defeated it? (answer revealed below)

On Friday, September 27th, 15 teams, and a total of 115 guests, filled the Appalachian Ballroom at Hotel Madison for our first annual Are you smarter than a (Redeemer) 5th grader?. Their goal? For some, to answer as many questions as possible and win the day (or evening). For others, simply to spend time with their friends sans children while supporting a great cause. Participants were able to do all that and more during this unique fundraising event.

Teams of six competed against one another in answering a series of trivia-like questions gleaned directly from Redeemer’s K-5th grade curriculum. (The question above — which comes from our first grade — served as the final question of the first round.) At the same time, the night provided plenty of opportunities to enjoy food, drink and one anothers’ company.

The preparation for AYSTAR5G? began over a year ago by a group of dedicated parents and staff. The committee wanted to move away from the traditional Fundraising Gala or Auction, and give our guests something different. The requirements: a fun experience that kept participants talking long after it was over, and that highlighted our distinctive and robust curriculum. The idea of a twist on trivia night prevailed.

Game format

The planning committee eventually developed a game with five rounds of questions in total. Round One featured four questions from Kindergarten and first grade. Teams assigned point values of 1, 3, 5, 7 to their answers based on their level of certainty (i.e. if they were totally sure of the answer they gave it a 7, if they were guessing they gave it a 1). In Round Two teams saw questions from our second and third grade curriculum and used the same point values as before. Next up came the Bonus Round, which was comprised of audio-visual only questions highlighting our Fine Arts studies. All questions here were worth four points. Round Three highlighted our fourth and fifth grade curriculum. In this round of four questions teams assigned point values of 2, 4, 6, 8 to their answers, upping the ante from the previous rounds. The Final Round consisted of one question from fifth grade Latin. Here teams could wager as much or as little of their points as they wanted.

If a team couldn’t come up with answers, they had the opportunity to buy them: $10/answer in Round One, $20 in Round Two, and $30 in Round Three (teams could not purchase answers during the Bonus Round or the Final Round).

Featured Teams

Of the 15 teams participating, two had a special guest status. The Harrisonburg Radio Group and WHSV fielded complementary teams that competed against each other (without the opportunity to buy answers) for The Invicta Cup, and no small amount of bragging rights. The contest was neck and neck for a while, but in the end The Harrisonburg Radio Group prevailed!

We plan to invite teams from different market sectors each year to compete for the Cup. This year focused on Media Moguls, next year … who knows?

A fantastic evening

Based on the feedback from this years’ participants, Are you smarter than a (Redeemer) 5th grader? was a huge success. Teams had fun connecting with old friends, making new ones, and working together to tackle some trivia. Our teachers, who served as table runners, heard the phrase “They learn that?!” many times throughout the evening, prompting a bit of pride in what we do here at Redeemer. As an added bonus, we raised money to support our tuition assistance program, which makes our high-quality classical Christian education available to more students in the Shenandoah Valley.

Join us next year

For those who were able to join us at the inaugural AYSTAR5G? … we’re so glad you could make it! All of us involved in the planning and execution of the evening were blessed as we watched you have such a good time. For those who think this sounds like something you’d enjoy … we’ll do it all again next year. SAVE THE DATE for September 25th, 2020. And start brushing up on your K-5 knowledge set!