Trucking team takes trivia title

The ABF Freight System team took first place Thursday night (Aug. 27) at the Fort Smith Trivia Challenge, an event that raised $19,500 to support economics instruction in  the Fort Smith Public School District.

Economics Arkansas coordinates the events around the state, with funds raised in Fort Smith supporting professional development workshops for teachers, said Sue Owens, executive director of Economics Arkansas. The workshops help teachers include “real life economics” into their classes.

According to Economics Arkansas, “real life economics” teaches students about investing their human capital in the marketplace, decision-making skills and associated costs of those decisions, financial management skills, the global marketplace and the roles of producers and consumers.

Economics Arkansas is affiliated with Council for Economic Education and coordinates with six university-based centers for economic education.

“The partnership strives to meet the needs of teachers by providing training, educational materials and curriculum reform in economics for Arkansas’ schools,” according to Economics Arkansas literature.

The $19,500 raised with the trivia challenge — held at the Immaculate Conception Parish Center — topped the 2008 collections of $18,000, said Dr. Barry Owen, with the Fort Smith Public School District. Owen, along with Jim Fourmy with First National Bank of Fort Smith were co-chairs of the event. More than 200 tickets were sold for event, which included a reception and dinner.

Companies and schools sponsoring teams were ABF Freight System, Arvest Bank, Baldor Electric Co., Beall Barclay, Cooper Clinic, Data-Tronics, First National Bank of Fort Smith, Hanna Oil & Gas Co., Northside High School students, Shields Energy Inc., Simmons First National Bank, Southside High School students, University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, and Zero Mountain Inc.

David Humphrey, director of investor relations for Fort Smith-based Arkansas Best Corp., served as the emcee of the trivia event.

ABF survived Data-Tronics and the Southside High School students in the final. Fort Smith-based ABF Freight was serious about the event, with none other than Arkansas Best Corp. CEO Bob Davidson on the team. (Arkansas Best is the parent company of ABF.)