Whitley’s homecoming team awaits the start of Mock Rock.
Courtesy | Evan Waters

When the Student Activities Board unveiled the homecoming theme, many dorms searched for subject experts among their residents for the trivia competition. But not so at Whitley Residence: the six members competing in space trivia turned themselves into experts.

“Two weeks before the big event, I made a Google Doc of any single theme or any subject related to space that’s possible,” freshman Blake Schaper, leader of the trivia team, said. “We looked at science fiction movies, video games, anything related to space history. I researched the different types of telescopes and talked about chromatic aberration in lenses. I just wanted to make sure we covered all our bases.”

Junior and Whitley resident assistant Dylan Glover said Schaper exhibited great leadership in his initiative to organize studying for the team.

“His drive to help us win and his work of assigning study materials to each member of the team are what put us in contention for first in trivia this year,” Glover said.

Schaper said this was the dorm’s first time, as far as he knew, preparing for trivia this intensely in advance. As soon as he learned about the trivia competition, he begged the resident assistants to let him lead the team.

“We got second place, which I think goes to show that we’re at least doing something decently,” Schaper said. “We were on the seat of our pants though —  if we missed one question, we would have dropped a few places. Every time we studied counts.”

Schaper placed in the top 20 in the nation for the National Academic Bee in seventh grade, and he said he hopes to go on “Jeopardy!” someday.

“I’ve always had a passion for trivia and learning knowledge,” Schaper said. “I thought this would be a great way to get back in the habit and also show my smarts. My friends call me ‘the king of the nerds,’ and I gotta continue that title.”

Schaper recruited senior Nicholas Mirochnikoff, junior Benjamin Bassett, sophomore Pierce Leaman, and freshmen Dominic Gaetano and Dave Lawrence for the team. Each member took a different category of the study guide.

“Seeing the potential in some of my teammates was one of the things I’m most proud of,” Schaper said.

Gaetano came into the trivia armed with quiz bowl experience from high school and his family’s love for “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” and other space fandoms, so he chose to specialize in space movies and pop culture for the competition.

“That category just so happened to be a large portion of what made up the overall trivia set of 40 questions,” Gaetano said. “Unfortunately, nobody memorized the distance of Mars to the sun. Otherwise, we would have won.”

Gaetano said the extent to which he studied paled in comparison to his teammates.

“I’d scan Wikipedia pages, I made myself ChatGPT summaries. I’ve been quizzing myself throughout the week. But they had piles and piles of note cards, bolded words, flashcards,” Gaetano said. “I was like, ‘Wow. I don’t know what I signed up for here.’ I only truly learned the extent that the team had gone through to prepare for this a day or two before, maybe even the day of, the actual trivia competition.”

At the trivia competition, SAB asked a series of 10 questions per round, and the team would write down their answers, which would be submitted for grading.

“It means that you can work together as a team instead of a team of individuals,” Gaetano said. “It definitely takes a lot of the pressure off of the competitors. It makes it a lot more enjoyable as a team, but not as cool to watch.”

Schaper said the intensity of trivia called for his “special secret formula”: his grandmother’s “ultra-caffeinated” chai tea.

“I put three of the tea bags in a water bottle and started just chugging it. I felt a little strong. I was a little jittery,” Schaper said. “Nicholas was like, ‘Blake, you gotta chill down.’ I wanted to do a Whitley chant. We nixed that, but we did a group prayer. I was feeling a little antsy throughout the whole thing, probably because of the caffeine.”

Gaetano said he was initially doubtful of his ability to contribute to his first homecoming at Whitley.

“But the first category was ‘Star Wars,’ and so I was able to answer a lot of those questions very confidently. Then the last category where we needed to perform just happened to be space pop culture,” Gaetano said. “It was just an instant write-down.”

Gaetano said the last round was a great moment for the team that landed them in the tie-breaker round, and he ended up as one of the highest scorers on the team.

“I definitely want to give a shoutout to the boys, all the hard work they put into it. Definitely to God, of course — we did a prayer circle before, so that’s definitely massive,” Gaetano said. “All the people that came to support us, even if it wasn’t like they could jump in or anything. They just came to watch. We’re really building something here, and I think this trivia win is a massive part of defining the dorm that no one really knows about. We were happy to place, because I don’t think we’ve ever placed that high in a homecoming event ever.”

Schaper said many students seem to underestimate Whitley as a dorm, but he hopes to defy that stereotype.

“I know Galloway Residence equates us to the fraternity in ‘Monsters Inc.’ that’s full of a bunch of losers who don’t do anything, and I like to just gently counteract that stereotype — show that we’re a small dorm full of spirit,” Schaper said. “We’re not just a bunch of nerds who never see the light of day again, but we’re well-rounded individuals who are fun to talk to and engage with the real world.”

Schaper said the team did well on the trivia’s “Star Wars” portion, lost some points on NASA missions, but won 10 out of 10 points on the last round. He felt nothing but pride for the team, despite not winning first place.

“Whitley drilled it into us freshmen that this is a chance to show who you are to the overall body of Hillsdale,” Schaper said. “Doing the trivia aligns perfectly with that mission, also with the homecoming dance. If you asked me to do dive rolls and dress up as Wall-E in front of a crowd of 200 at the start of this summer, I would say absolutely not. But I thought this is the time to try something new. I know you only have neuroplasticity until the age of 24, so then you start being solidified in your skill sets. This is the perfect chance to grow myself.”

Glover said placing second in trivia inspired him and the rest of the dorm to work harder than ever for their Mock Rock performance on Saturday.

“We scored the most points we ever have in homecoming this year, and a large part of that was because the trivia team worked so hard at preparing for the competition,” Glover said.

Gaetano said the Whitley trivia team will be returning next homecoming with full force.

“We’re going to go for first next year,” Gaetano said. “That trivia team includes some of the greatest minds on campus right now. So I think any category we have a solid shot at.”