A team of Bromfield students will test their wits against contestants from other Eastern Massachusetts schools on a new quiz show to be produced by WGBH. The program, which does not have a title yet, is scheduled to be taped in January 2010, and will begin airing in late March.
As described in WGBH’s letter to the school, the series will feature “Jeopardy-style questions that are drawn from areas core to the high school curriculum, such as literature, history, and science, together with current events, sports, entertainment, art, and general knowledge.”
When teacher Michael McGarty saw the announcement for the program last June, his reaction was, “This is perfect. The kids will love it.” For the past 11 years, McGarty has coached Bromfield teams for the on-line tournament Quiznet. The school team went to the national Quiznet competition last year.
WGBH notified McGarty that Bromfield had been accepted shortly after the start of school this fall. Only 20 schools in Eastern Massachusetts were selected to participate.
Two veterans of last year’s Quiznet competition, senior Danny Eisenberg and junior Andrew Hong, were named to the team based on their experience. More than 20 students competed for the other four places, fielding questions on a broad range of topics while testing their buzzer-pushing reflexes. The winners were seniors Jacky McGoldrick and Rebecca Turner and juniors Brett Keating and Lewis Pacheco.
During the first ten programs, pairs of teams will compete for points. The four teams with the highest scores will advance to the state championship against the top teams from Western Massachusetts. A similar program, As Schools Match Wits, has long been a feature of WGBY in Western Massachusetts.
