While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the semester and countless rituals and routines, both at Georgetown and across the world, a new tradition is emerging among students in the Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies masters program. Over the last several weeks, students have gathered on Wednesday evenings to chat and compete with one another in virtual trivia.
Trivia has taken place over Zoom remote conferencing software, and questions have been delivered using Kahoot!, a quiz-based online learning platform. Various students have had the opportunity to host, and themes have ranged from the pop music of 2001 to regional food to Slovak history. This has led to some interesting learning outcomes beyond the confines of a classroom. For example, Krysia Sikora ‘21, remarked that she has “learned a lot about Wyoming” by attending trivia, thanks to a round of Wyoming-centered questions created by Seth Farkas ‘21.
For Matthew Wisneski ‘21, the goal of trivia is not necessarily to win, but rather to “have the same sort of ridiculous [and fun] conversations as in the [CERES] lounge.” Given the wide variety of topics that have appeared in trivia, these conversations have been easy to come by. Indeed, a recent set of trivia hosted by Kate Himonas ‘21 included numerous questions about Carly Simon’s 1972 hit “You’re So Vain,” prompting significant banter.
In the upcoming weeks, Sikora will host a set of trivia based on fun facts she has gathered about other CERES students. “I’ve learned a lot of very interesting things about people” in the program, she says.
Virtual trivia has been a great way to keep the community of CERES thriving while remaining socially distant.