I Need Some Friends Trivia Quiz

Answer: Indiana

Hoosiers are from Indiana. In addition to the Bloomington and Purdue / West Lafayette locations, Indiana University has campuses in Richmond, Kokomo, Gary, South Bend, New Albany, and Fort Wayne, along with extension programs in other areas of the state.

Indiana won the NCAA basketball tournament in 1985. Although it is often confused with "Back Home Again in Indiana" - which is also played at sports events - the chorus to Indiana's state song goes: "Oh, the moonlight's fair tonight along the Wabash, / From the fields there comes the breath of new-mown hay. / Through the sycamores the candle lights are gleaming, / On the banks of the Wabash, far away." The chorus of "Back Home Again in Indiana" goes: "Back home again in Indiana / And it seems that I can see / The gleaming candlelight, still shining bright / Thru the sycamores for me / The new mown hay sends all its fragrance / From the fields I used to roam / When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash / Then I long for my Indiana home." Similar images, similar sentiments. I have never been to Indiana or seen the Hoosiers play, but both songs get me a little misty.

Answer: University of Mary Washington

My friend Carolyn went to Virginia Commonwealth University, and several friends attended the University of Virginia. Trish went to Mary Washington, aka Mary Wash. The University of Mary Washington was named after Mary Ball Washington, the mother of George Washington, the first President of the United States, who had many family connections to Fredericksburg, Virginia. Eleanor "Nellie" Rose Conway Madison was the mother of the fourth U.S. President, James Madison, who has a university named for him (not for his mother), founded as a normal school for women in Harrisburg, Virginia, the same year Mary Washington was established in 1908.

The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is the second oldest college in the United States (after Harvard), chartered in 1693 by King William III and Queen Mary II, who ruled jointly over the British Empire (including the American colony of Virginia); although it nominally was founded in part by a woman, William and Mary was a college for men only until 1918. Located in Northampton, Massachusetts, Smith College, established in the 1870s, owes its beginnings to an endowment by Sophia Smith, the woman for whom it is named; it is the largest of the "Seven Sisters" (private women's colleges, connected with the Ivy League, that also include Mount Holyoke, Vassar, Wellesley, Radcliffe, Bryn Mawr, and Barnard).

Answer: Lake Michigan

Carthage College uses its proximity to the large metropolitan areas of Chicago, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as a selling point, because students have access to internships, jobs, and additional educational and cultural opportunities in the nearby cities while enjoying the benefits of a small liberal arts college atmosphere and a scenic natural environment on the lakefront. Carthage College has historical ties to both Illinois and Wisconsin, since it was first established in Hillsboro, Illinois - as "The Literary and Theological Institute of the Lutheran Church in the Far West" - then moved to two other locations in Illinois (one of them named Carthage) before finding its home on the shores of Lake Michigan in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The college is still connected to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and emphasizes critical thinking, as well as spiritual growth and moral responsibility.

Answer: University of San Diego

USC, where my friend Maggie went to college, and UCLA, where my granddaughter Lexi went to medical careers camp, are in Los Angeles, which does not fit the question as precisely as San Diego, which is 121 miles (195 km) further south. The Mexican border is about 20 miles south of the city center of San Diego.

The University of Washington is in the beautiful but rainy northwest, where Donna and Chucky T live. While my friend (and daughter-in-law) DeAnn attended the University of San Diego, a private Catholic college that takes pride in its community engagement and its beautiful setting on Mission Bay, there are many other learning opportunities in the San Diego area, both inside and outside of school.

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography, for example, is connected with the University of California at San Diego, a public research university; another public institution, San Diego State University, which began as a "normal school" to train young women to be teachers, is known for its diversity and for the large percentage of graduates who remain in the San Diego area. San Diego is the major center for technical schools and research facilities of the U.S. Navy on the Pacific coast.

The San Diego Zoo is just one of many places where learning takes place outside of schools and universities in Southern California.

Answer: North Carolina

Because I live in North Carolina and attended UNC Wilmington and UNC Greensboro, my friend list is skewed toward the many fine colleges and universities in our state. Debra's Wolf Pack is North Carolina State University in Raleigh, while her Pirates are from East Carolina University in Greenville. Michael (rredman95 at Fun Trivia) is justifiably proud of his degree from Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, North Carolina, a liberal arts college founded by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

The "Tarheels" name historically refers to all North Carolinians, but specifically - in sports, at least - to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Cape Fear Community College bears the name of the river it overlooks, in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina (not to be confused with the larger, more industrial, Wilmington in Delaware), and UNCW is a few miles away, toward the beach: both Wilmington schools are known for their marine science programs but also excel in the arts, especially film and television, which are an important industry in the area. (Duncan, rynsmommy, suggested CFCC. GrandmaKaty8 also claims CFCC as home, both as a student and an administrative assistant.)

Answer: Michigan State University

Established in 1855, Michigan State University set the pattern for agricultural, land grant universities meant to provide a practical but soundly academic education for an American population that was increasingly moving west. After World War II, the university expanded to accommodate veterans returning to school under the G.I. Bill.

In sports, Michigan State is a member of the Big Ten Conference, made up of large universities that are the flagship campuses for their respective states, and its mascot "Sparty" is a strong-muscled "male Spartan warrior" dressed in helmet and battle gear.

The other choices are in the American Midwest, as well. While Myrna appreciates her education at Michigan State, she credits a small college in California with the arts education that enriches her life as a photographer and observer of the world.

Answer: The University of Alabama

"The Crimson Tide" refers to The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, the flagship university (also called "the capstone") of Alabama's educational system. (The letter "T" in "The" is capitalized, since it is considered part of the official name, so I have been careful to keep that usage.) Alabama is highly respected for its sports as well as its academic programs.

The other universities listed compete with The University of Alabama in the Southeastern Conference, with the nearby Auburn Tigers perhaps their most important rival. Auburn's colors are navy blue and burnt orange.

After a rough start with racial integration in the 20th century, Alabama moved into the 21st century at or near the top in the U.S. in the percentage of minority students who successfully complete doctoral degrees.

Answer: Buckeye

The first tree cut west of the Ohio River was said to be an Ohio Buckeye - scientifically named "Aesculus glabra" - a tree with a hard, tough, brown nut whose qualities metaphorically represented the early pioneers. The Ohio State University is like many large universities in the United States in that it began as an "agricultural and mechanical" college under the land grant program, a plan in which states were granted lands owned by the federal government, to finance universities that, according to the code, would "without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactic...teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life." Over time, the land grant colleges moved away from the emphasis on applied technologies and agriculture, concentrating on research and academics. Most, like Ohio State, also grew to be sports powerhouses.

Answer: Emory University

Located in the large southern city of Atlanta, Georgia, Emory University offers a balance of internationally respected research and emphasis on teaching. The Candler School of Theology and the Carter Center provide opportunities to apply ideals in ways that have lasting effect. Emory's sports teams are the "Eagles"; however, "Dooley" is a special sort of mascot, beginning life as a lab skeleton but living on as a costumed figure who has his own "week" and events, as well as other privileges and responsibilites.

The saying goes: "Presidents may come, presidents may go; professors may come, professors may go; students may come, students may go; but Dooley lives forever!" Spelman College, also in Atlanta, Georgia, is a historically black university, established in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary; it has remained a women's college and a predominantly African-American college throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century. Duke University and Wake Forest University are private universities in North Carolina that were originally church-connected.

Answer: Duke University

Duke University, one of the most prestigious research universities in the world, was originally established as the church-related "Brown's Schoolhouse" in the North Carolina village of Trinity, later moving to Durham and benefitting from a large endowment from the Duke family, for whom it now is named. (The original name lives on in the "Trinity School of Arts and Sciences" at Duke University.) While Duke is a secular, non-sectarian university, Duke Divinity School remains one of thirteen seminaries of the United Methodist Church in the United States.

While the names "Winston" and "Salem" are popularly connected with tobacco brands, Winston-Salem University is named for the city, and the city's name came long before the tobacco brands (though not before the tobacco): the town of Salem was named by Moravian settlers for the Biblical site in Israel, which in turn refers to peace; the town of Winston was named for a revolutionary war hero; when the two came together they became Winston-Salem.

A historically black university, like Winston-Salem, Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, is home to a Baptist Divinity School, founded by missionaries from the American Baptist Association in the north, soon after the American Civil War in the 1860s; Shaw has been called "the mother of African-American colleges in North Carolina." Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, is home to the Candler School of Theology, another United Methodist seminary.