JALC Trivia Team is on a roll

By TERI CAMPBELL, Logan Media Services

The John A. Logan College trivia team has been on a roll lately. The team racked up three victories in November and those wins are part of a long history of success.

Dr. Jane Bryant, professor of political science at JALC, has been a member of the team since its inception.

“Russ Williams, who used to be a part-time faculty member here, started the team in 2006 to participate in a fundraiser for the Lighthouse Shelter in Marion,” Bryant said. “We won that event in 2006 and 2007. Once we got a taste for the competition, we started looking for other contests to play in. Now we do about eight to 10 fundraisers a year.”

Bryant believes diversity is one of the team’s strengths.

“The members of the team have changed a little bit over time, but a few people have stayed the same, and everyone is affiliated with Logan in some way,” Bryant said. “One of the things that makes us strong is that we’re from all different departments on campus. We all have our areas of expertise and that helps make us a winning team.”

Rebecca Bostian, a reference librarian at JALC, joined the team in 2008 and sometimes serves as the captain.

“When I started working here four years ago, I became part of the team and took on the responsibility of finding events for us to play in and getting everything organized,” Bostian said. “We have a good time and we do pretty well. I believe we win between 80 and 90 percent of the fundraisers we play in, and we always donate the money we win back to the charity. We just play for the fun of it.”

Bostian said the team members can be superstitious.

“We had come in second at two contests in a row, and we were pretty bummed out about it. Then someone brought Fritos to the next event, and we won it,” Bostian said. “So we brought Fritos to the next one, and we won again. So now someone has to bring Fritos to every competition we play in.”

Kenneth “Fog” Gilbert, instructor of English at Logan, has been a long-time member of the team.

“I enjoy getting together with my colleagues outside of work and these contests give me the opportunity to do that,” Gilbert said. “This team is a lot of fun. I like the camaraderie and the challenge of the competitions.”

Along with Bryant, Bostian and Gilbert, the other regulars on the team are Mark Rogers, assistant professor of computer information systems; Tom Bell, associate dean for learning resources; Tom Carroll, professor of history; Jennifer Jeter, assistant professor of mathematics; Charles Rudolph, instructor of English; and Dr. Rick Gardner, instructor of music.

“The regular players can’t always make it to every contest so we’ve had many substitutes join us and fill in over the years,” Bostian said. “We welcome anyone at the college to play with us if they are interested in trivia and like to have a good time.”

The JALC trivia team will be back in action on Dec. 8 when it participates in a fundraiser for the Marion High School Library Club.