A bee-lightful evening had by all at the LEF Trivia Bee – November 13, 2003
By Brian Kelly, Staff Writer / Lexington Minuteman
Before a packed house at the Clarke Middle School Auditorium on Thursday, Nov. 6, the E.G. & Heads showed why they are the masters of useless information in Lexington by taking the top spot in the Lexington Education Foundation's Trivia Bee for the second consecutive year.

Prior to the start of the annual trivia extravaganza, Bee Co-Chairman Chew-Hoong Koh explained to contestants there would be an important change in the rules from years past. Like always, 42 three-person teams were divided into seven six-team swarms. However, once a swarm was reduced to three teams or less, they would all receive the same question and have to write it down on a board, similar to "Final Jeopardy." In the past, teams would be asked different questions until a winner of the swarm was determined. As always, when the seven swarms were whittled down to one team each, a final swarm was held to determine a champion.

Bridge Elementary Principal Barbara Manfredi, who served as master of ceremonies, didn't even have to put her Halloween costume away from the previous week; she came dressed as a witch. Middle School principals Joanne Hennessey and Pamela Houlares, dressed in robes and wigs, served as judges and made final determinations on questionable answers, and Harrington Assistant Principal Michael Spencer was a "wizard" at making sure teams didn't take too long to respond to a question.

Flitting around the stage to eliminate teams as always was "the Queen Bee" herself, Dance Inn Director Thelma Goldberg. Goldberg, dressed in black tights and a stuffed bee body, also helped the audience get prepared for the evening by having them guess what songs two of her students were dancing to before the main event took flight.

When the Bee was ready to start, Manfredi realized the questions were nowhere to be found. But the William Diamond Junior Fife and Drum Corp, with all their musical might, came in to save the day as one of its member dragged in a sack full of brainteasers while his comrades played on.

Throughout the night, Manfredi stumped teams with questions such as, "What was Kramer's first name on Seinfeld?" "What is the oldest city in the United States?" and "Within five years, what year did the Titanic sink?" The answers, in order, are Cosmo, St. Augustine, Fla., and 1912. The Titanic question proved particularly embarrassing to Diamond Middle School history teacher Peter Cohen and his Baseball Diamonds team, who were eliminated by a wrong guess.

"Why did you ask the history teacher a history question in front of his students?" Cohen asked embarrassingly.

Once the final swarm was narrowed down to just two teams - the Legal Bee-gles of Palmer and Dodge, made up of John Bennett, Jake Labovitz, and Joe Pollender, and the E.G. & Heads team from Evans, Griffiths, and Hart, consisting of Jonathan Cronin, John Santos, and Robert O'Brien - like last year, the winner came down to a baseball question.

"Who's record did Babe Ruth break when he hit sixty home runs," asked Manfredi, and E.G. & Heads determined correctly that he had broken his own record.

"We were quite pleased to win. We practiced using trivia books that we have, and it's actually sort of a running pastime around here to play trivia," said O'Brien, whose team received gift certificates to the Tavern at the Lexington Sheraton for winning. "A lot of it is the luck of the draw with the questions you get. It was quite a thrill to win, and we were very honored to be able to help the Lexington Education Foundation. That's what it's all about really."

Nancy Shepard, a member of the trivia question committee, said coming up with the questions is a year-long process.

"We just go to a variety of sources and about a half dozen of us write the questions and discuss whether they are good or not and we base them on level of difficulty. The hardest part is trying to make sure the questions are challenging and fun," said Shepherd. "I collect questions all year round. If I see something in a newspaper or hear of something on the radio or TV I'll write it down. I really keep a running list all year long. We also try to make some easy so the kids will know the answers. It makes it fun for them because a lot of parents are on teams."

About $25,000 was raised at this year's event, an increase of $3,000 from last year.

"It's a very successful fundraiser that makes an important contribution to the LEF's grant fund. A lot of the money comes from a number of generous sponsors, and those contributions are critical to the evening's success," said LEF president Leslie Nicholson. "It's a wonderful evening of community merriment. It's nice for everybody to have an evening where we can enjoy each other's company, and we appreciate all the sponsors and volunteers very much."

Raytheon served as the Bee's major sponsor this year, donating $3,500 to the LEF. Benefactors included Massport, Capstone Mortgage Company, and the Lahey Clinic, who all donated at least $1,000.

The Lexington Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1989 to support educational programs in Lexington Public Schools through grant funding.