Southeast Missouri State University’s Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. Xi Iota Chapter and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. Tau Omicron Chapter hosted “Black Jeopardy” in Dempster Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 21.

Xi Iota President Machale Shelton said he and the organization wanted this event to “not only focus on Black History Month but also to learn from one another.”

“I want students to learn about the different categories and history facts we have up there,” Shelton said. “But I also want us to network with the different organizations here as well.”

The categories for Jeopardy included black chat, pop culture, music and others. Each question was worth 200 to 1000 points. The participants were split into three teams of two and the emcee explained the rules of the game.

Team Two was ahead of the other teams for the entirety of the competition by dominating questions like, “What do you say to agree, signal the end of a discussion or to emphasize a point?” Buck answered with the correct answer of, “What is period.”

Team Two consisted of freshman Grant Spies, who was accompanied by chair and professor of the department of mass media Dr. Tamara Zellars Buck.

The game concluded with the final question, “Who were the first two black students enrolled to SEMO?” Associate Director of Student Life Bruce Skinner answered correctly but was unable to catch up to Team Two.

Team Two ended the night as the winning team with a total of 7000 points. Buck said as soon as the questions were asked, she did not feel prepared but was happy to pull out a win.

“I think that it is important to recognize black history,” Buck said. “I loved that they had mixed identity teams. I loved that they incorporated faculty and students. I loved that there was a very diverse group who attended to watch the event. Overall, I thought it was great.”

Although Buck did not feel prepared, the emcee graduate student Camille Shoals had full faith in Buck’s knowledge.

“It’s Dr. Buck, you know, she pulled up and she was ready,” Shoals said. “She had a Melanin Poppin shirt on so I knew she was ready to play.”

Black Jeopardy was only one of the many events on SEMO’s campus for Black History Month. To find out more information about events from Xi Iota, check out their instagram @pbs.xiiota.