The Class of 2023 held its first annual Brain Bash on Thursday, Dec. 15. Eight seniors competed against eight staff members in trivia-style questions. The Brain Bash was hosted by senior Brendon Stevens and senior Amanda Walker was in charge of scoring and timekeeping. The rather simple format, however, was filled with chaos and comedy, courtesy of all the participants.
The Brain Bash was filled with ten categories of questions: Science, Math, Literature, History, Geography, Sports/Games, Movies/TV, Pop Culture, Music, and Miscellaneous. With upwards of 40 correct answers, and, at one point, a huge lead of six points by the seniors, there is no doubt the teams were able to demonstrate their collective knowledge. Until they weren’t, of course.
Pretty early in the competition, the two teams were head to head when the teachers slipped up on one of the questions. This offered the seniors an opportunity to steal if they answered correctly. The only problem: Brendon blurted out the answer himself.
The students reasonably expressed their outrage for the unfairness. Eventually, it was decided that the staff couldn’t steal the next question the seniors got wrong. Absurdly, though, on the next question the students got wrong, the teachers were still allowed to steal. This unfairness was discussed until the end even though the seniors came out on top anyway.
The balance in the competition was somewhat restored when the seniors got a multiple choice question in the pop culture section and the teachers only received an open ended one. The inconsistencies stirred some annoyance among the contestants, but they happened to be laughable moments for the seniors and staff to remember the Brain Bash.
Pictured from left to right: Palak Jain, Johanna Brown, Devesh Karthik, Nihira Mulkar, Luanna Da Rocha, Swapnil Roy, Nicholas Miceli, Thomas Garrahy. | Photo: Mia Pelaez
Pictured from left to right: Jillian Barry, David DeCarli, Jordan Szczygiel, David Fortier, Michael Fagan, Adele Gali. Not pictured: Amy Rosenberg (covered by Jordan Szcygiel). | Photo: Mia Pelaez
While some of the frenzy of Brain Bash came from these unfair advantages, perhaps more came of the wrong answers. When asked about Harper Lee’s classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, both the staff and students missed. While the students got the state (Alabama) correct, nobody managed to pinpoint Maycomb.
One of the most hilarious answers came in the final question. Contestants were asked to write down as many of the 11 actors who had played Batman. The students managed to come up with Christian Bale, but somehow managed to include the American Psycho, Patrick Bateman (who was played by Christian Bale), in their list.
Though the attendance for Brain Bash was low, the Class of 2023 fundraiser was filled with laughable frenzy.
(Feature photo: Mia Pelaez)