Women’s Center hosts Women’s History Trivia Night

This past Tuesday, Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Women’s Center hosted a Women’s History Month themed trivia. The event, occurring over Zoom, included a 50 question Kahoot game about women of the past and present that have contributed to American history and their accomplishments. 

Women’s Center Graduate Student Assistant and host of the event Erin Kotten explained the Women’s Center has not hosted an event like this before and wanted to give an opportunity for students to learn about important women in history. 

“I do not believe that we have had an event like this in the past,” said Kotten. “I personally love trivia, and I thought it would be fun to have a trivia event for Women’s History Month that highlighted women throughout history and noteworthy events about women’s rights and accomplishments.”

The questions were given out over a Kahoot game that the 12 participants were able to access. The questions came in different formats, including “Who am I?”, general trivia, and legislative questions.

Attendees were able to learn a lot during this event. Kotten educated participants on a variety of women, ranging from Madame C. J. Walker, the first female self-made millionaire, to Sojourner Truth, an American abolitionist turned women’s rights activist. 

Important events in history, such as the Voting Rights act of 1965, were also included. Some of the answers shocked the players. 

“I thought that the first female self-made millionaire was Oprah,” said junior Mikayla Witter.

Some of the famous women included in the “Who am I” portion were Malala Yousafzai, Greta Thunberg, and Nancy Pelosi. Players also learned about the first transgender woman to get an Emmy nomination, Laverne Cox, the first woman to graduate medical school in the United States, Elizabeth Blackwell, and the first woman to serve as vice president, Kamala Harris.

Players were competitive, answering the questions quickly and, for the most part, correctly. Many boasted a long streak of correct answers, with one player ending with a streak of over 30 correct. 

Many students had various reasons for wanting to attend the event. 

“[I chose to attend because] I think it is important to educate yourself on things that you find important,” said Witter. 

MSU sophomore Chase Belka participated in the event to challenge herself. “I wanted to participate to learn about and celebrate all the amazing accomplishments of women and challenge myself to see what I already knew,” Belka said.

Prizes were given to the top three players who placed on the Kahoot podium. Prizes included books, a Hamilton Beach Personal Blender, and an E-reader Amazon Fire tablet.
For those wanting to get involved in events before Women’s History month is over, the Women’s Center will be having another event. The Lift Every Voice: Women Make History seminar will be held on March 31, both in-person and over Zoom.

Write to: Syd Berggren at sydney.berggren@mnsu.edu