NHS Teachers take first place in the NEF’s 2025 Trivia Bee
On Wednesday, March 12th, the NEF held its 34th annual Bee, the fifth year featuring trivia, with 50 teams and over 350 participants and attendees. Teams included students and teachers from each of Needham’s schools, local businesses and community organizations, and over a dozen family and neighbor teams. The evening started with an opportunity to meet Officer Rocket and Officer Ghost, the Needham Police Department’s Community Resource dogs, and to take team photos and purchase raffle tickets for a chance to win one of ten themed baskets with items donated by local businesses.
Mike “Sarge” Riley, the public address announcer for the New England Patriots and Revolution and a veteran Boston sports radio personality, kept the evening lively and fun as the event host, sharing fun facts about many of the teams or bantering with the student teams seated in front.
After 5 spirited rounds of trivia, including categories such as science, entertainment, geography, and Needham history, there was a two-way tie for first place between the NHS Teachers “Chat GPT” team and the NHS Capstone Students “The House of Rowse” team. The teachers just edged past the students to take first place. There was also a six-way tie for 3rd place, with the “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” team earning the spot.
Creativity abounded with the naming of the teams, including the Best Team Name category winner, “Brainy Bunch” from the Needham Community Council. There were also a number of teams in custom t-shirts, Bee antenna headbands, and fun outfits, though none as committed as the “Wicked Smart Mitchell Teachers” from Mitchell Elementary School in their Wicked costumes.
Competition was also fierce among the elementary teams, with the “Trivia Beans” team from Newman Elementary School earning the title as the top-scoring elementary team this year, with the other Newman team “Fantastical Five” coming in a close second. They will get to display the top-scoring elementary team trophy at Newman Elementary until next year’s Bee.
The event was recorded by the Needham Channel and will be available for viewing in late March.
Team and Event Pictures:
1st-NHS Teachers
2nd-NHS Capstone Students
3rd-Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader
Top-Scoring Elem Team-Newman
Best Team Name-Brainy Bunch
Host Mike Riley
2025 Raffle
Trivia Bee Trophies
Bee Co-Chairs
Broadmeadow Friends of Officer Rocket
Queen Bees
Needham Fire Department
Mitchell Master Minds
Leader Bees
Wicked Smart Mitchell Teachers
Needham School Committee
Mitchell Student Team
Smart as Can Bee
Photo Booth
Pollard Teachers
Raffle Winner
Teams and Spectators
