Tonight's prime-time entertainment won’t be on television.

It will be in Owens Auditorium, where local students will help Moore County’s movers and shakers test their knowledge for a good cause.

The Public Education Foundation of Moore County will host “Are You Smarter Than a Moore County Schools’ Fifth-Grader?” based on the popular television game show hosted by Jeff Foxworthy, beginning at 6 p.m. on the campus of Sandhills Community College.

Thirty-six fifth-graders from each of the school system’s elementary schools will join 12 local celebrity guests to raise money for the foundation.

Celebrity guests include Baxter Clement, owner of Sandhills School of Performing Arts; Audrey Moriarity, executive director of the Given Memorial Library and Tufts Archives; John Dempsey, president of Sandhills Community College; Jim Dodson, PineStraw magazine and O.Henry magazine editor; and Dick Higginbotham, senior executive vice-president and CFO of Pinehurst Resort and Country Club, among others.

Admission to the event is free, but donations for each school participating will be accepted throughout the event. Schools have been collecting money in “spirit jars” over the last few weeks as well.

Each elementary school will keep 50 percent of the funds it collects, and the rest of the money will fund grants for the foundation.

Teammates from Vass-Lakeview Elementary School and Southern Pines Elementary School have been gearing up for the event over the last month.

Vass-Lakeview students Nathaniel Lockamy, Colby Mashburn and Kylie Waycaster say they have been watching the show, practicing trivia questions and playing “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader” games to prepare.

“It’s going to be like the real show, except Jeff Foxworthy isn’t going to be there,” Waycaster said. “I’ve been cramming notes, taking them home and studying everything.”

“I’ve been asking my dad and my mom to ask me trivia questions like every five minutes,” Lockamy added.

Mashburn even bought an “Are You Smarter” app for her iPod to quiz herself.

“It’s pretty cool, and it gets me packed with information,” she said.

The students shouldn’t have to worry too much about all that trivia. Questions for the event were created by teachers at each of the schools and assembled to reflect the North Carolina elementary curriculum.

The students say they are ready to help their team’s celebrities, Dodson and Tracy Metcalf, the 2011 Moore County Teacher of the Year, if they need help with questions.

“I’ve seen a couple of adults on the real show that forgot how to subtract,” Waycaster said. “I think they might need a little help since there’s six of us awesome kids.”

Southern Pines Elementary fifth-grader Nelson Womack hasn’t done as much preparation as his teammates at Vass-Lakeview.

“I’m a procrastinator,” he said.

But he and classmates Devon Dunn and John Kyle Coniglio believe they can utilize their strengths in certain subjects to help win it all.

The winning team will earn a pizza party for the entire fifth grade at their respective schools.

The students admit that nerves are kicking in as the event gets closer, especially with pizza on the line for their classmates, but they all feel confident that they will be able to represent their schools well.

“I think it will be entertaining,” Dunn said. “It’ll help a good cause.”

For more than 25 years, the Public Education Foundation of Moore County has worked to enhance education and encourage excellent classroom instruction through its fundraising efforts.

The students hope that their participation in the event will help their teachers receive additional resources to provide more hands-on activities in the classroom and new equipment.

“We have a lot of intelligent teachers [at Vass-Lakeview],” Waycaster said. “We need money to upgrade our awesome school to make it better than it already is.”

For more information about the event, visit www.mcpef.org.

Contact Hannah Sharpe at hannah@thepilot.com.