When plans for a project for her political science class fell through, Emarie Majors said she decided to throw a Jeopardy-style game night. She selected professors Becky Strain and Jim Tueller and her sister. Anneke Garcia, who has been on the show and won four times, to participate.
Majors, a junior from Montana majoring in political science and visual arts, shared her sister was visiting Hawaii for Thanksgiving and knew she would be fit for the event. Her original plan for the project was to host an art show for Hawaii Mother’s Milk, a breastfeeding resource center for mothers in Hawaii, but had to improvise when that was postponed, explained Majors.
She used the Jeopardy! night as an opportunity to promote the organization. “They offer services to women in the community to help them with breastfeeding and raise awareness to create a community around that.”
On Nov. 29 Strain, Tueller and Garcia competed in a Jeopardy-style competition in the Little Theater. To win the game, the participants had to earn the most points by answering various topical questions correctly. Majors’ political science professor, Rand Blimes, acted as the game show host for the event and Garcia’s husband, Erick Garcia, acted as scorekeeper.
The game included three rounds. In the second round, the amount of points were doubled and in the third round, the contestants wagered their own points for the final question. After three rounds, Garcia had won the competition.
A star-studded appearance
Before becoming a four-time Jeopardy! champion, Anneke Garcia said she and her grandma enjoyed watching the television show. Upon taking an audition test, she said she never expected she would be invited to participate on the show. “To actually be there in the real place, like taking the real test, I felt really honored. I felt like, ‘I better make my grandma proud.’”
Garcia said her sister asked her to participate in this event as part of a class project. “She knew we were coming for the holidays and I think she got the idea and thought it would be a good activity. I was really glad she thought of it.”
Garcia said she enjoyed learning new information from the professors. “You can tell what kind of things they know about and their personality.” She said doing online quizzes spanning various amounts of facts helps prepare her for Jeopardy! games. “That’s my ongoing practice. It finally became my hobby now.” Before Jeopardy! she said she didn’t know about online quizzes. However, after participating on the show, she and her former contestants participated in these quizzes.
A friendly competition
Jim Tueller, a history professor in the Faculty of Culture, Language & Performing Arts, said he enjoyed meeting and competing against Garcia. He shared some of the categories revolved around the topics he was knowledgeable about, including the author J.R. Tolkien. “History professors teaching world history like I do learn a lot of different things. It’s not like I knew the answer, just the clue.”
During the game, the contestants answered a variety of questions revolving around several historical topics for points. He said he enjoyed learning from one of the questions that the English word “manure” originally derived from the Old French word “manoeuvrer,” which means “to work by hand.”
A fun-filled experience
Majors said, “It’s not every day a four-time Jeopardy! champion is around.” She expressed the event was to promote enjoyment for students during finals and it gladdened her to see people “come together, have fun and forget about the stress.”
Major shared she had planned to have Blimes as a contestant but he opted to act as Alex Trebek and host the event. “He’s very animated, so he made it very fun,” she explained.
Although it was merely competitive, Majors said she enjoyed seeing people cheer on the contestants and learning new things. She said she was amazed by the effort her professors and classmates contributed towards the event.
Inviting her sister as a contestant, she said, was a tender moment for her. “It’s special for me to shed light on my sister. I love her and I want other people to know how great she is. It was exciting to put that spotlight on her.”