Whether it’s pop culture, literature, mathematics or even rocket science, Brian Zhang (‘24), Eba Moreda (‘24), Justin Huang (‘24) and Harsh Ambardekar (‘24) have the combined knowledge and experience to answer a variety of trivia questions. On Dec. 2, these four Green Hope students participated in WRAL’s academic quiz show, Brain Game, where they lost by a margin of around 20 points to Triangle Math and Science Academy.
The WRAL Brain Game is a live-recorded competition between high school teams. The teams attempt to answer questions based on randomly chosen topics. Teams are given a few seconds to think and collaborate before a team captain must respond. A correct answer yields 20 points for the team, but an incorrect answer is met with a loss of 20 points and gives the opposing team an opportunity to answer the same question.
In order to prepare for the event, Zhang revealed the team practiced since the beginning of the school year. “We have been doing practice every Wednesday with our Quiz Bowl team… we are forced to answer questions independently about a variety of topics including arts, current events, history, geography and many more. Each one of us competitors were assigned a specific category to prepare for,” he said.
This divide and conquer plan proved to be successful for Zhang and his teammates. “We all felt confident going into the Brain Game and I think we had a really balanced team,” he said. “We were expecting to succeed in front of supporters and at the nice studio.”
However, having a host and live audience added a layer of challenge to the contest. “The audience provided some extra support but also some extra pressure,” Zhang said. Having nearly a dozen Green Hope students as well as about 100 other audience members was a new experience for the team because most quiz bowl competitions are conducted with no audience.
Being on air not only altered the way the team competed, but also the way the members interacted in general. Zhang said, “We had to stay more focused and not go crazy since we were on TV. We also felt more pressure to get questions right because anybody could watch us.”
Ms. Luciola Lewis, the Green Hope staff representative for the Brain Game event, also commented on the environment. “It’s really hard already because they have to answer difficult questions on the spot, but it was exciting because the audience was cheering them on. It was cool to not only watch them do really well, but see how the studio operates and how the recording process went with the breaks and everything,” she said.
The competition experience benefited both the students and the school community. “[The competition helped to boost] our school’s publicity on television and [advertise] our school’s academic strength.” Zhang said. “We want to let our classmates and even middle schoolers know that they have the opportunity to be on television representing Green Hope.”
Despite losing their head-to-head matchup, the Green Hope team was able to score enough total points to qualify them for the Brain Game playoffs throughout the first half of 2024. The team agrees that “ẃhile it was challenging, it was a fun experience for all of us and we hope to compete again.”
