DOHA, QATAR – Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar hosted the Qatargas Education City Quiz Challenge March 11. ECQC is a unique trivia challenge between the university campuses of Education City comprising of a high-speed, high-energy infinite bounce format of questions from the field of current affairs, geography, technology, sciences, sport, entertainment and pop culture. Final rounds took place in the Carnegie Mellon Qatar building in front of an audience of 300 members from the Education City community.
First place went to team “Panadol” and second place went to team “Taz,” both from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. A team from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service Qatar received third place, and a team from Carnegie Mellon Qatar earned fourth place.
“This was a great opportunity to meet students from other universities and concentrations. Besides providing a great intellectual challenge, this event has allowed me to make some lasting friendships with students from other universities, whom I may not have met otherwise,” said Prashanth Venkatesh and Nigel Pereira, from the winning team of Weill Cornell.
The Qatargas Education City Quiz Challenge held the first round of the competition on March 8 between 30 competing teams drawn from students, faculty and staff from all six university institutions at Education City, as well as the Academic Bridge Program. The eight final teams competed on March11 for QR 3500 worth of prizes which included a rolling trophy for the winning team. The Quiz Challenge was presided over by quizmaster Ben Reilly, Ph.D., history professor at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. Prizes were handed out by Qatargas representatives and members of the event’s organizing committee, Sparks Entertainment.
The Qatargas Education City Quiz Challenge included various opportunities for audience participation and prizes as well as a lucky draw for an iPod nano. This year’s competition was sponsored by: Qatargas (Platinum sponsor), Meeza (Golden sponsor), Prolines W.L.L (Print Partner), Innovations Unlimited ME (Lighting partner), QFRadio 91.4 (Radio Partner) and Symphony Doha (Stage work Partner).
“We are proud to help sponsor this event as part of our broader recruitment outreach to university students. We have employees who have graduated from Education City and would like to forge links between the universities and our company,” said Matthew Smith, head of recruitment at Qatargas.
This year the Qatargas Education City Quiz Challenge saw a spike in participation, growing from 19 teams last year. The run of show included a live performance by one of Education City’s leading student bands. The stage was equipped with the finest light and sound setup, giving the event the full effect of a television game show.
“This event is an outgrowth of the mission of Her Highness and Education City to bring students from different universities and fields together. By connecting intellectual stimulation with entertainment, we have been able to bring the university community together to promote a thirst for learning and knowledge,” said Varun Arora, an information systems major at Carnegie Mellon Qatar and head of Sparks Entertainment. “It is our mission to make this annual event increasingly challenging and entertaining for the whole Education City community.”
ABOUT CARNEGIE MELLON
With more than a century of academic excellence and distinguished research, Carnegie Mellon University is a leader in education with real-world applications. Consistently top ranked, the University has more than 11,000 students, 72,000 alumni and 4,000 faculty and staff globally. Core values of innovation, creativity, collaboration and problem solving provide the foundation for everything we do.
At the invitation of Qatar Foundation, Carnegie Mellon joined Education City in 2004. Here, Qatar Foundation created a unique center for scholarship and research that is the ideal complement to Carnegie Mellon’s mission and vision. Students from Qatar and 30 different countries enroll at our world-class facilities in Education City. Carnegie Mellon Qatar offers undergraduate programs in business administration, computer science and information systems, as well as executive and corporate education. Learn more at qatar.cmu.edu.
