One week after a new NCAA Basketball champion is crowned, another exciting inter-collegiate competition will begin: the "
Jeopardy!" College Championship kicks off Monday, April 9 (7:30 p.m., WIVB-TV - CBS - Channel 4). Over the course of the two-week event, 15 of America's sharpest students will vie for the $100,000 grand prize and a berth in the next edition of the "Tournament of Champions."
Here are the 2018 College Championship contestants, in alphabetical order:
- Josie Bianchi, a sophomore at Stanford University (Stanford, California) from San Jose, California
- Thatcher Chonka, a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma (Norman, Oklahoma) from Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Dhruv Gaur, a freshman at Brown University (Providence, Rhode Island) from Gainesville, Georgia
- Jordan Goodson, a senior at Columbia University (New York City) from McLean, Virginia
- Rishab Jain, a freshman at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta) from Memphis
- Patricia Jia, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) from Fremont, California
- Harry Kioko, a senior at the University of Chicago (Chicago, Ill.) from Princeton, New Jersey
- Sheldon Lewis II, a sophomore at the Rochester Institute of Technology from Buffalo
- Rebecca Rosenthal, a sophomore at Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, Pennsylvania) from Ridgewood, New Jersey
- Alli Ross, a sophomore at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, Massachusetts) from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts
- Hannah Sage, a sophomore at the University of Central Florida (Orlando) from Sarasota, Florida
- William Scott, a freshman at Tufts University (Medford, Massachusetts) from Los Altos, California
- Carsen Smith, a senior at Vanderbilt University (Nashville) from Jacksonville, Florida
- Eric Thorpe, a senior at Dartmouth College (Hanover, New Hampshire) from Laguna Niguel, California
- Caroline Trammell, a junior at Furman University (Greenville, South Carolina) from Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Buffalo contestant Lewis is slated to compete on Monday, April 9.
On the RIT website, writer Michelle Cometa wrote, "Lewis, a second-year computer engineering technology major in RIT's College of Applied Science and Technology, taped the show in California in March. He's been mum about results, but he shared some of the behind-the-scenes process he went through to be part of 'America's Favorite Quiz Show.' "
"I've been watching the show since I was 4," Lewis told Cometa. "It's not just clues and question responses; it is clever word play. The puzzle isn't the answer, it's understanding how they want you get to the proper question as a response, and this is a different way to think about problems. ... Not everybody approaches problems the 'Jeopardy!' way, or the engineering way. Problems in my classes that might be confusing, if I think about them in other ways, I can break them down a lot easier. Maybe my way of looking at information can break barriers or find new ways to solve things?"
"Jeopardy!," "America's Favorite Quiz Show," and its host, Alex Trebek, are in their 34th season in syndication. With 23 million viewers each week, "Jeopardy!" is the top-rated quiz show on television, and has won several awards and distinctions over the course of its time on the air, including the 2017 Emmy for Outstanding Game Show. The show holds a Guinness World Records record for the most Emmy Awards won by a TV game show (34); it is also the recipient of a 2011 Peabody Award.
Sheldon Lewis II of Buffalo is a sophomore at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is shown with "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek. (Photo courtesy of Jeopardy Productions Inc.)
