The Nanovic Institute for European Studies will host its first-ever Eurocup trivia night on Wednesday night in Jenkins-Nanovic Halls.
“This is the first annual Eurocup competition,” Mark Kettler, director of the Eurocup trivia night, said. “This year really represents a huge expansion of the European trivia nights [held previously]. We’re moving from what was a fun night of getting together and asking questions about a common interest to a formalized competition.”
The event will take place from 6:30 to 9 p.m. The prize is a trophy, which is intended to encourage inter-hall competition and strengthen individual hall spirit, Kettler said.
“We thought instead of just sending an open invitation to anybody who might want to join, we would actually try to encourage the residence halls to compete against each other,” he said. ”So the winner gets the Eurocup which would reside in their residence hall for a year and they bring it back and try to defend it next year. The [winner’s] team name and their residence hall will be emblazoned on the cup.”
The purpose of the trivia night is to give students more exposure to the Nanovic Institute and potentially get them involved with it.
“I hope that this is a fun night in which students can see how European studies can enrich their own academic career,” Kettler said.
Students can register on the Nanovic Institute website event page or directly walk in to the event on Wednesday night.
“If you register early, you will be considered for the best team name competition, and the best team name gets 10 bonus points,” Kettler said.
The competition had 45 people from eight different residence halls registered as of Monday. Students referred to the trophy as a major incentive to attend.
“I have a competitive streak so I think that having a bit of competition with a cool prize [the trophy] will make it a lot of fun,” sophomore Maureen Kenny, who intends to attend the event, said in an email.
Anticipation for the trivia night extended beyond student participants as well.
“I'm excited about it,” Anna Dolezal, assistant manager of student program at Nanovic Institute, said. “I used to participate in events like this during my master’s degree, and I really liked them. I think it’s a fun way to meet other people who are interested in these kinds of things. It’s a cool way to bring together people who have interests that you don’t often hear from daily conversations.”
The Eurocup competition requires students to already have chosen their teams by the time of registration. As of Monday, for example, Lewis Hall had two teams fielded, Kettler said.
“The idea that you have to form a team beforehand is that we really wanted this to be on people’s radar ahead of time, and to encourage this idea of inter-dorm rivalry,” he said. “The registration [for the trivia night] is not closed yet. We encourage you to sign up ahead of time because there’s the 10-point bonus at stake, but we'll also accept walk-on teams.”
In addition to the Eurocup prize, which ultimately goes to the winner of the trivia competition, there is also a “Eurocup junior” which goes to the team that has the most freshmen.
“We’re just trying to encourage freshmen in their first semester to explore and to be aware of what the Nanovic Institute is, and how it can help them craft their studies and then pursue their interests,” Kettler said.
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