Jeopardy! has always been a fan favorite game show for trivia fans and nighttime television watchers, it’s been a part of popular culture for decades.
The show has seen an array of different hosts, including the legendary Alex Trebek and most recently, Ken Jennings. But at Quinnipiac on Thursday, Feb. 26, the Jeopardy! hosts were Jessica DeRosa and Ryan Brennan.
Co-hosted by Tri Delta and Beta Theta Pi, more than 75 people across different sororities and fraternities gathered in CCE 101 to play the iconic game show, all for the benefit of children’s cancer research.
With 11 different teams participating, the rules were the same as the actual game show: get a question correct and you earn points, get it wrong and you lose points.
Categories included comfort TV shows, Music, 2026 Olympic Games, Food and Snacks, Geography and Numbers. Teams shouted out answers, many of which were correct, some of which were wrong. The eventual winner of the game was Team Pi Beta Phi with 2200, beating second place Team Gamma Phi Beta by 700 points.
DeRosa, a junior health science major and member of Tri-Delta, co-hosted the event and brought a lot of energy.
“I know I can be loud,” DeRosa said. “That’s good for getting college kids to calm down a little bit, and it’s something that I thought was super fun.”
DeRosa and Tri-Delta were fundraising for St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital, an organization they have worked with for many years.
“Our sorority has raised a lot of money for St. Jude,” DeRosa said. “We’re one of the top five donors, and for that, we’re their official partner of kindness.”
Brennan, a junior law and society and economics major and the Vice President of Programming for Beta Theta Pi and the Interfraternity Council, helps organize all the philanthropy events for the fraternity.
“I figured we’d get a lot of people to go and I thought we’d get a lot of money from it,” Brennan said. “We only put $100 into it, and I bet we made more than $300, which is really nice.”
Beta Theta Pi raises money for St. Baldrick’s Foundation for Childhood Cancer, a similar cause to Tri-Delta’s.
“I love St. Baldricks,” Brennan said. “We’ve been working with them since I was a freshman, and the inspire me a lot.”
During the fall, members of Beta Theta Pi host an event where they all shave their heads to raise money for charity, and donate all of it to St. Baldricks.
Ethan Figueroa, a fourth-year film, television and media major and member of Beta Theta Pi participated in the event.
“They asked if we wanted to have a team of some of our members, and I said ‘why not,’” Figueroa said. “(St. Baldricks) is near and dear to our heart, and it’s something that we’ve been continuously supporting for a while because it’s an amazing cause.”
Maddy York, a sophomore media studies and journalism double major and member of Tri-Delta, did not compete, but was spectating from the audience and was able to hear all the commotion.
“We’ve never done this before, so I thought that it worked out really well,” York said. “We have an important goal in our hearts, and this was a good way to hang out and have fun as one big group.”
The two organizations raised $350 last night during the event, a small but important donation to both of their charities.