Georgetown SFS-Q Staff and Faculty Win Education City Quiz Competition

Bibliophobia is broadly defined as the irrational fear of books. It is also the answer to one of the many questions posed to teams at the bi-annual Education City Quiz Night that took place recently. And bringing home the covetous victory for the third consecutive time was the 10 person team of faculty and staff representing Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Q)

The Georgetown team consisting of Daniel Stoll, John Crist, Steven Ward, Briana McGinnis, Hussein Aldobashi, Moamer Qazafi, Stephen Heath, Betty Andretta, and Karen Rasch proved they didn’t suffer from any of the symptoms of bibliophobia when they beat out the competition by answering four rounds of questions covering topics like geography, history, problem-solving, mathematics and natural science.

“This was my first time in this prestigious competition, and it was amazing how every single person had something that contributed to our success. From answers including the names of the ancient tribes in Saudi Arabia, to flag identification to knowing cartoon characters and famous figures we really could not have won without the breadth of knowledge that the Georgetown team members brought with them,” noted Moamer Qazafi, director of communications.

Competition for the win came from well prepared teams representing various organizations under the Qatar Foundation umbrella, including the universities and schools from Education City and as far away as Al Khor. This year the Academic Bridge Program played host to the competition by developing a rigorous list of questions covering a variety of subjects. Sixteen institutions in all took part in the event that was held in the Student Center Ballroom, making the quiz night a rare opportunity for the entire Qatar Foundation community to meet and greet and test their metal.

“Our goal is to build a sense of community. Each initiative we organize is co-hosted by a different institution, and includes the participation of everyone. This helps foster collegiality among members of the Qatar Foundation family that are normally hard at work doing their own thing.” said Faculty and Staff Life Committee organizer, Ouidad Bounama.

The next Quiz Night will take place later in the year, allowing the SFS-Q team plenty of time to brush up on their general knowledge and competitive reflexes. In the meantime, they can look forward to participating in the next Qatar Foundation community event to be hosted by Cornell University, a camel race, sure to be thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, barring they don’t suffer from zoophobia, the fear of animals.