During the schoolwide Jeopardy game at lunch on Feb. 23 in Bow Gym, the senior team won with 5200 points, followed by the juniors (3200 points), the sophomores (-600 points) and the freshmen (-2400 points). The winning seniors—Madeleine Chen, Quincy Rosenzweig, Saman de Silva, Griffin Teller and team captain Scott Hwang—received donuts, and all teams received candy as a participation prize.

The event was hosted by the Student Executive Council (SEC), who first started planning the event last semester. An SEC team led by Junior Class Vice President Juno Kim first sent out a form to gauge student interest in a Jeopardy game and potential categories. Then, they drafted the game rules and created questions and answers based on the responses. “We planned everything out during the first semester, and [last week we executed] the things we planned out,” Kim said. In the competition, teams of five from each grade raced to buzz in and answer questions to rack up the maximum amount of points. Gunn’s Jeopardy game mirrors the classic Jeopardy format, where participants are presented cues and must format their responses as questions. One team chooses a category and point value, and the first team to buzz in gets to answer. If a team answers correctly, those points get added to their total. If they answer incorrectly, the points are deducted and the team that buzzed in next has the chance to earn those points. The six different categories were Gunn Facts, Music Facts, Guess the Logo/Slogan, Celebrities/Pop Culture, Sports Facts and Geography. Each category had clues worth different point values ranging from 200 to 1000 in increments of 200 based on difficulty.

Teller believes that his team’s performance surpassed his expectations. His team prepared before the tournament by researching Gunn trivia, memorizing country capitals and discussing a strategy. “I’m proud of my team for both the preparation and knowledge we had,” he said. “There was no stepping on each other’s feet or arguing over answers. The fact that we’re all friends and have known each other for a long time helped.”

Sophomore Sophia Yen enjoyed the passion throughout the Jeopardy game. “It was exciting to see people wanting to be the first ones to answer,” she said. “Teams were smacking their tables. It was [fun] to see the buzzers fall off the tables.”

SEC’s school-wide events aim to promote class spirit and pride. “We mainly want the school to get into an atmosphere of class spirit because Spring Spirit Week is [happening now],” Kim said. “The other events we’re planning also revolve around trying to increase class spirit.”

Teller added that schoolwide events create a safer and more inviting environment. “That sense of cohesiveness is so important—it contributes greatly to our [sense of] belonging at school and our enjoyment of school,” he said. “Without that, school wouldn’t be nearly as fun, memorable or important.”