Arcadia High Alum Places Third in ‘Jeopardy!’ College Championship
By Arcadia Unified DigitalCommunications Intern Claire Li
ArcadiaUnified School District (AUSD) alum Xiaoke Ying had placed third in herquarterfinals matchup but earned a score of $12,800 which qualified her as awildcard in the semifinal round; she was trailing at third place going into thelast segment of her semifinal round, yet ultimately went on to secure her spotas a finalist in the ‘Jeopardy!’ College Championship. Currently a sophomore atthe University of Southern California (USC) majoring in the business ofcinematic arts, Ying placed third in the “Jeopardy!” College Championshipwinning $25,000.
Afterfinding out she would move on to the finals of the “Jeopardy!” CollegeChampionship, Ying mentioned she was in shock. “I was trailing going into FinalJeopardy, and I didn’t know the answer, so I really didn’t think I would win,”Ying admitted. Ying had gone into Final Jeopardy in third place. While herother two competitors, students from the University of Texas and YaleUniversity had wagered most of their points, Ying, knowing presidential geographywas not her strong suit, bet $2,000. All three semifinalists answeredincorrectly, leaving Ying with the highest score, thus securing Ying a spot asa finalist.
Competing inthe final round, Ying said it was “somehow less stressful than before. BecauseNibir was so far ahead, I was mostly focused on trying to get second.” AlthoughUniversity of Michigan student Nibir Sarma finished first, Ying edged her wayto become the third place finisher out of 15 contestants.
To get aplace in the competition, Ying first took a 50-question online exam in October.“I signed up for the notifications for the online test because I was curiousabout what it would be like. It’s a very simple process and it doesn’t takevery long, so I thought it couldn’t hurt to try,” Ying said. While Ying thoughtparticipating in the “Jeopardy!” College Championships would be a goodexperience, she did not think she would get chosen to play.
Followingthe online placement exam in November, contestants chosen based on their testresults were invited to an in-person audition. Although the audition in CulverCity, Calif. was relatively close for Ying, others had flown in from moredistant places like Canada. In Clovis City, Ying took another 50-question test,mentioning, “When I got to the in-person auditions, I had to see how I would dobecause it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Ying laterreceived a call-back in January and would go on to tape the show in February.To prepare for the game, Ying mainly continued reading as she normally had; sheread anything she came across as well as subjects she was interested in. Yingadded, “I did try to brush up on my geography by taking Sporcle map quizzesbecause I knew it was a weakness of mine that comes up a lot in Jeopardy.”
Beforecollege, Ying attended Arcadia schools, going to Holly Avenue ElementarySchool, First Avenue Middle School, and Arcadia High School. Ying took part inArcadia High School’s Quiz Bowl and History Bowl teams, which she noted “weredefinitely helpful experiences.” Ying added, “Quiz Bowl helps with expandingyour knowledge base and can be a similar environment with the buzzing. In fact,during info meetings for Quiz Bowl tryouts, we would often describe it asJeopardy with teams.” She also mentioned, “The other contestants have alsocompeted in Quiz Bowl, so we all had that experience.”
When filmingthe show, Ying admitted, “It was pretty nerve-wracking to be on TV. There’s anaudience, and my family was there so I didn’t want to disappoint them.” Whileshe was nervous, Ying noted, “The game itself goes by pretty fast and thecontestant coordinators there are really great about giving pep talks duringcommercial breaks.”
For Ying,the biggest challenge during the show was trying to get the timing of thebuzzer right. She said, “I believe we all knew most of the answers, so it’sjust a matter of who can buzz in the fastest, and that was difficult for mecompared to the others.” She added, “Something about Jeopardy that a lot ofpeople don’t realize is that the screen doesn’t expand like it does on TV. Eachclue stays in its location, so sometimes it can be a little hard to read!”
Ying’sfavorite part was the people she met. “Everyone who works there is amazing andsuper helpful,” Ying commented. “With the other contestants, even though weonly met for two days in person, we’ve all become such close friends. We stilltalk almost every day in the group chat and have weekly Zoom calls. By far thebest part of the experience was the people I met.”