NORWICH – The final four Drug Quiz Show teams from Chenango County held their regional competition Wednesday with the top team moving on to state finals in Syracuse.
The 25th annual Drug Quiz Show took place at the Stanford J. Gibson Elementary School. The final four teams competing were Greene, Oxford, Sherburne-Earlville, and Afton.
Greene defeated Oxford in the final round of the regional competition, earning them first place among Chenango’s schools. They will now compete at the state finals April 7. The team will travel to the competition in Syracuse via limousine, provided by the Brown Foundation.
This is the fourth year in a row the Oxford team has taken second place among the county’s districts, said captain Dylan Wheeler. “It’s good to win, but the best part is just getting together with everyone to have some fun and learn about the dangers of drugs and alcohol,” he said.
“Although only one team may walk away with the title, just participating and having learned so much, you are all winners in the most important game of all, life,” said competition coordinator Kevin Nial at the start of the event.
Nial said though the program aims to educate students about drugs, it also teaches conflict resolution, self-esteem, stress management and other life skills.
The Drug Quiz Show was conceived of 25 years ago after teachers and students at the Jamesville-DeWitt school district noticed the increased national trend of drug use was affecting their own school. In an attempt to educate and interest students, the school created a trivia competition about drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
Today the program involves more than 40,000 students from across the state and the competition has been held every year since.
Locally, the program is supported by Chenango County Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services, The Brown Foundation, Norwich City School, The Chenango Social Club, Tobacco Free Chenango and the Chenango Health Network.
Greene Captain Alec Target said he was a “huge” fan of Jeopardy and when he saw a school advertisement describing the Drug Quiz Show in those exact words, he couldn’t resist signing up.
“Wow. I’ve learned a whole bunch of stuff. I learned that a lot of things that I didn’t think were actually drugs are drugs, things like paint and air fresheners,” he said.
The contest is open to fifth though eighth graders. The kids are tested about general drugs, stress and health information throughout three rounds of competition. The first round poses questions to the team, and their captain answers. The second round is individual based, and only the student asked is allowed to answer. No help can be given by their teammates. The third round can be perhaps the most exciting when teams compete against each other in a buzzer round. Each team tries to beat the clock by buzzing in before the other and answer the question correctly.