Brains to meet in trivial battle

PORTALES — Residents of eastern New Mexico will have a chance to show off their trivia knowledge and raise money for local youth during the Battle of the Brains scheduled Saturday night at Eastern New Mexico University.

Teams of eight will compete in a trivia competition covering 10 different categories including math, science, history and art.

“It’s going to be funny, entertaining and we’re doing something good, too,” Jeff Gentry, dean of ENMU’s college of fine arts said. “To me primarily this is not a fundraiser as much as it is an event, a fun, totally worth it event.”

Battle of the Brains is organized by Leadership Portales, a class sponsored by the Roosevelt Chamber of Commerce which Gentry, a member of the class, said features representatives from Portales Municipal Schools, ENMU, Cannon Air Force Base and various businesses.

“We just get people from all walks of life around Roosevelt County who get to learn about the region and about leadership and we take on a class project,” Gentry said.

This year’s project is Passport Portales, which Gentry said will provide the cost of registration fees for local students to attend various summer camps and workshops.

Suzanne Balch-Lindsay, assistant vice president of academic affairs at ENMU and a member of Leadership Portales, said the amount of money available to each student through Passport Portales will be dependent on how much is raised.

She said teachers from each grade at PMS will nominate students to be eligible for Passport Portales based on several different character traits.

“It’s not based on academics solely, they get plenty of recognition. This is for that student who is really always there and tries really hard, shows good habits, character and always trying to do their best,” Balch-Lindsay said.

“It’s a way to say thank you to those students for showing a lot of character and perseverance. It doesn’t go unnoticed and your teacher appreciates it and we in the community appreciate it.”

Gentry described the difficulty level of the trivia questions as “moderate,” and said teams will work together to generate one collective answer to each question.

“They’re not meant to be written for college professors or trivia wonks, they’re what I call ‘fun knowledge questions’ so there’s a range,” he said. “There are some that are really hard, some that are easy and some that the team can figure out if they just get together.”

Battle of the Brains is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday in the ENMU Campus Union Building Ballroom. To register, visit: http://www.portales.com/events/

details/battle-of-the-brains-4412 or call the chamber at 575-456-8541.

The registration fee is $250 for teams of eight and Balch-Lindsay said anyone looking to simply make a donation to Passport Portales can contact Karl Terry at the chamber.