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"2nd Annual Gateway Jeopardy! Championships Under Way"
Round One Complete, Students Prepare for Round Two and beyond
by Edwing Medina, Deputy Director, Gateway Institute
January 24, 2005

As the Fall 2004 semester comes to a close, so do Round One competitions of the Gateway Jeopardy! Championships. Over 250 Gateway students from every school and from every grade level competed in contests held after school on Tuesdays and Thursday throughout the Fall semester. Using Educational Insight's "Classroom Jeopardy!" (www.classroomjeopardy.com) electronic equipment, up to 12 students from the same grade competed in a fully interactive, multimedia-enhanced academic competition. The freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior games were hosted by Gateway Institute Deputy Director Edwing Medina, who kept the pace of competition intense, a la television's Jeopardy! Alex Trebek. The real sounds and feel of the Jeopardy! experience, coupled with a panorama of academic facts and general trivia made for an exciting Round One competition.

Students who hadn't attended the 1st Annual Gateway Jeopardy! competitions at Bayard Rustin High School for the Humanities in May 2004 were curious to see how this game would be played. When they saw how realistic and engaging the competition would be, many joined to play on the spot. But students weren't the only ones to get in on the educational fun. During the Round One competition at the Bayard Rustin Educational Complex, Ms. Adrienne Rubin (Living Environment teacher) and Dr. Gary Biester (Assistant Principal of Mathematics) joined their students in a free-for-all game
at the end of the scheduled competitions. As might be expected, Ms. Rubin and Mr. Bieser did very well.

The top six scorers from each school's Round One freshman, sophomore, junior and senior games will move on to the Round Two competitions scheduled to begin in early February. After Round Two, the top two scorers from each grade will then form 8-person school teams that will take on other Gateway school teams in the quarter- and semi-finals. In these games, competing Gateway school teams will face each other until a winning team is crowned on Saturday, May 15th, 2005. Prizes for the winning school teams will include specially designed Gateway bookbags, United Artist and Loews Theatre movie passes, and a pizza party.

Will Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School, the 2004 champs, retain their crown? Will Brooklyn Technical reverse the 2004 outcome that allowed Science Skills Center to move ahead while they were left behind? Will Ms. Rubin and Dr. Biester finally lose to their Gateway students in upcoming friendly competitions? Only time will tell, as Gateway resumes its Jeopardy! Championships this Spring.

For those moving on to Round 2, they will have to answer questions in the following topics:

Freshmen: Literary Terms, Movie Titles, Math A, Religion and Philosophy, Ancient Justice and Law, Famous Celebrities, Foreign Languages, Children's Authors, Living Environment, Myths and Legends, Math: Uncertainty, Famous Songs
Sophomores: Biology/Chemistry, Mountains, Primetime Television, Bodies of Water, Math, Billboard Hot 100 Duos, International Cuisine, Beverages, Books and Authors, Human Biological Systems, Phobias, the Internet
Juniors: General Science, A.C.T. Math, Wedding Traditions, Famous Authors, Analogies, Sports, S.A.T. Math, Famous Celebrities, William Shakespeare, World Currency, U.S. & Global History, A.C.T. English
Seniors: Acronyms, General Science, Presidents, Capital Cities, Foreign Phrases, Basketball, Famous Places, Baseball, Famous Quotes, Words ending in "-ber", Natural Disasters, Transportation

Round Two Schedule:

The schedule for the Round 2 Competitions, which will help select the members of the school teams, is as follows:
February 1st, 2005 (Tuesday, 4-6 pm) - BROOKLYN TECHNICAL
February 3rd, 2005 (Thursday, 3-5 pm) - SCIENCE SKILLS
February 8th, 2005 (Tuesday, 4-6 pm) - CLARA BARTON
February 10th, 2005 (Thursday, 3-5 pm) - ERASMUS HALL & S.T.A.R
February 15th, 2005 (Tuesday, 3-5 pm) - LAFAYETTE
February 17th, 2005 (Thursday, 3-5 pm) - JAMAICA
March 1st, 2005 (Tuesday, 3-5 pm) - QUEENS GATEWAY
March 3rd, 2005 (Thursday, 3-5 pm) - STEVENSON & G.S.E.R.T.
March 8th, 2005 (Tuesday, 3-5 pm) - JOHN F. KENNEDY
March 10th, 2005 (Thursday, 3-5 pm) - BAYARD RUSTIN H.S. FOR THE
HUMANITIES
March 15th, 2005 (Tuesday, 3-5 pm) - PORT RICHMOND
The inter-school Quarter-Finals will begin on Saturday, April 9th, 2005.
 
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