At the conclusion of the 9th annual Phi Kappa Phi Homecoming Intramural Quiz Bowl Tournament the faculty team, the “Sigmatizers,” stood victorious against the student team, Gamma Beta Phi. Members of the ‘Sigmatizers’ include Dustin Cotton, Sherry Craig, Dr. George Dorrill and Rebecca Murry.

“We feel great,” said Sigmatizer’s team captain Dustin Cotton of Sigma Tau Delta. “We actually won last year, so we were like defending champions. There was a lot of pressure, but we’re proud to do this with Phi Kappa Phi.”

After the competition, Cotton congratulated Gamma Beta Phi on their performance.

“We didn’t really plan for the possibility of losing, but they were a very good team and very challenging,” said Cotton.

The Quiz Bowl Competition is a question and answer game sponsored by the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and was hosted by Dr. Joseph Burns, professor of communication. Burns provided the contestants with a variety of questions concerning topics including history, literature, religion and current events.

“This year went beautifully,” said librarian and Quiz Bowl scorekeeper Beth Stahr. “It was also a lot of fun. Some of the questions were really difficult, I think it’s incredible how many were answered correctly.”

The tournament pitted several student and faculty teams against each other in a double elimination contest that determined the top four student and the top four faculty teams. An entrance fee of $25 was required, with the top student and faculty team each awarded $100 and $50 for the second place team. The championship match pitted the top student and top faculty team against each other. The winners of this year’s competition received a trophy in addition to their monetary prizes.

Dr. Joan Faust, assistant professor of English and faculty advisor of Phi Kappa Phi coordinated the event in its entirety.

“Once again we are astounded by the erudition of both our students and faculty in this year’s tournament,” said Faust. “As our Phi Kappa Phi motto proclaims, ‘Let the love of learning rule humanity.'”

The tradition began in April 2002 after Phi Kappa Phi was awarded a Promotion of Excellence Grant. The grant’s proposal, written by Faust, asked for the creation of an intramural quiz bowl competition. The grant was approved and Southeastern received $2,400 to fund the competition. Because the grant was issued during the year that football was reinstated, Phi Kappa Phi decided to make this an annual competition to coincide with Homecoming Week.