By Lily Whorl
Who Wants to be Enlightened?: The Black History Month Edition was a Six O’clock Series that held place on Monday, Feb. 26 at the HUB Ohio Room on the Indiana University of Pennsylvania college campus at 6:00 p.m. The program according to the handout was, “’Who Wants to be Enlightened’ is a fun and educational game show where ten contestants play to be the 31 most enlightened! This trivia game involves basic knowledge, creative thinking, introspective reasoning, and pop culture. Celebrate Black History Month at this program, have fun, and become enlightened!”
Kyle Quinn an IUP student was able to win a $50 gift card to the IUP co-op store.
Ten participants were brought on stage by two hosts, both male hosts wore all black suits and dark sunglasses. One man had a large afro wig on. The one man engaged all of the audience as he walked around and talked to each person, he was very personal as he asked questions like “What is your hometown?”
Along with the two hosts there was a woman who went by the name of “Vanna Black” that helped organize the event. The ten participants were the contestants in the game show which was very similar to family feud when they first go up against each other one on one. Each person was given a number 1 through 10. Vanna Black would pick two numbers and those would be the two contestants that were up for trivia. The contestant that hit the bell first would be the one to answer the question, if they got it wrong a new question was asked. About three questions were asked to each duo or until one of the two people got eliminated. When eliminated the contestant would be sent off stage.
The trivia questions varied throughout the program though they tried to stay on topic of black history month. The first section of questions was a variety of history questions all true or false. Some of the questions gave the audience the information that the 19th amendment united suffrage laws throughout the United States and it wasn’t the amendment that gave women the right to vote. Another fact was that the Civil War fought over the difference of opinion that free and slave states had and who would get the power of the national government to control the differences not that it was fought over state rights and high tariffs. The audience also learned that Maryland was not a part of the confederacy.
Next was the second category. This category was about sex and social issues. Once again during this section the audience was able to learn many facts. This time they learned about AIDS, race and skin color, cigarettes, condoms and marijuana. Learning that AIDS could not be transmitted through shaking a sweaty hand but could be transmitted through unprotected sex, sharing needles and blood transfusions. They learned about the different materials condoms could be made out of as well and that marijuana could be ingested, vaporized and smoked.
Ending the last category with three contestants standing they had a quick answer round. They gave each contestant a limited amount of time to answer multiple choice questions as fast as possible. This then narrowed it down to two contestants.
The final round was an opportunity for the two last contestants to show their personality and think through two different questions both about fixing the economy. Both contestants stressed the need for education and for availability of education to everyone. From this night the audience learned how lucky they were to be in University as everyone does not have that opportunity like students at IUP do.