Trivia bee raises thousands for area teachers and administrators

WESTBOROUGH _ There was nothing trivial about the Westborough Education Foundation’s 2007 Trivia Bee. A total of 32 sponsored teams competed for the coveted first place in the Foundation’s annual competitive contest, held on Oct. 15 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Westborough. In prior years, the contest was formatted as a spelling bee; however, this year the Foundation shook it up a little by turning it into a trivia bee. The swarm of trivia buffs raised over $12,000 to support educational grants for teachers and administrators in the Westborough School system. Supporting teachers is something that should be happening throughout every school, luckily there are courses for online professional development that teachers can take to build upon their expertise and get a chance to advance their education. Helping teachers helps children!

PENTA Communications, Inc. of Westborough put together a “PENTA Posse” made up of media buyer Michelle Panagian, graphic design associate Wesley Shedd and special guest team member Gary Hutner of the Worcester Telegram (Coulter Press).

“Enthusiastic members of the PENTA team looked forward to participating in this year’s event to help the Westborough Educational Foundation. The Foundation Committee did a great job at organizing this year’s event and our company was proud to participate,” said Deborah Penta, CEO of PENTA Communications, Inc.

Questions were broad-based and included Westborough history, Boston sports, science, pop culture, English literature, and government. The winning team for the event was “Genzyme E”composed of James Nagel, Megan Cunningham, and Jason Pileggi. They answered the question, “Which fighter was known as the ‘Brockton Blockbuster’?” The answer was Rocky Marciano.

While the PENTA team did not make it into the final round, the team showed its creative flair and team spirit by dressing the part of the “PENTA Posse,” complete with western hats, boots, and badges. “This was a great experience for PENTA’s entire team,” Panagian said. “We all studied and coached trivia together, and really went into the Bee as a whole group – on the stage and in the audience, rooting each other on. Trivia was much harder than spelling!”

Town Moderator Joe Harrington served as the question asker for the event, while Dennis O’Neil introduced the teams and kept the event moving.

Sponsors for the event included: Westborough Athletic Boosters Association, PENTA Communications, Inc., Beth Tikvah Synagogue, Roche Brothers, the Lawrance/Schacter/Fannin families, Rand-Harper Pickering Funeral Home, E. L. Harvey & Co., Paowell/Gikind/Howard and Hensley, Polito Development Corp., Alexander Aronson and Finning, Winn Wealth Management of Merrill Lynch, Michael Mathieu Realtor, Middlesex Savings Bank, Belmont at the Willows, Fallon Community Health Plan, Donal, Maloney and Melfa Insurance, Seder & Chandler, The Newcomers’ Club and Whittier Rehabilitation Hospital.