Answer: What is Hughes Middle School's 'Jeopardy' tournament?

Corey Washington
Staff Writer
“Jeopardy” is known to many as the beloved television game that pits three bright minds against one another for three rounds until one winner is declared. However, when a local competition made its way to Hughes Middle School, it was an apparent school-wide affair that every student seemed to feel a part of during its final game on June 5.

Hundreds of students piled into the Hughes Middle School auditorium in Bixby Knolls, each seemingly in support of their favorite competitor. Even as spectators, the students were engaged; as each contestant pondered the questions posed, the audience of students couldn’t resist shouting their answers, to the dismay of teachers trying to quell the noise.
Hughes was the latest school to engage in the regional tournament. The local competition is the brainchild of Jim Birge, who has been organizing and coordinating the competition for 14 years. The competition is a one-day affair for each school that whittles down to one winner per school, leading into a semi-final and final tournament.
Students from grades six through eight competed in the “Jeopardy” game. Each student who won the competition for their grade level would face two students for the remaining grade levels in the final game. That student would become school champion and then compete in the final tournament.
Birge began the local tourney after his wife started teaching at Cubberley Middle School in Long Beach. The competition has expanded and now includes 10 area schools along with electronics to replicate the look and feel of “Jeopardy.”
“It was in 2009 that ‘Jeopardy’ gave me the rights to do this, and I had been already doing it at Cubberley,” Birge said. “! Cubberley was my wife’s school, she was teaching there, and I just went to the principal, and we just started doing it. We brought in ‘Jeopardy’ champions to host. It was really a hoot, and it got so popular other schools were asking so I went to ‘Jeopardy’, because I didn’t know how legitimate I was. I have a contract that I sign every two years with them to allow me to keep doing it. ”
Birge said the game is a fun and exciting way for students to learn, using material based on the school’s curriculum. The games also include a small hodgepodge of pop culture-related questions. Birge said the “Jeopardy” game helps challenge students and put their minds to the test.
The three finalists for Hughes Middle School were Caleb Marsh, Ben Rodriguez and Melissa White. Marsh, a sixth-grader, knocked off his senior competitor, White, an eighth-grader, to win Friday’s game and be declared school champion. Before the competition began, Marsh, who is acquainted with White, said he was only nervous about facing White, whom he sees as a strong competitor. White competed in the “Jeopardy” game last year.
In the end, the game hinged on guessing a four-letter word that is both a noun and a verb during the final round. Marsh, who had the highest score, was the only competitor to announce the correct answer: “cast.”
Marsh’s family attended the game to support their son. Eric and Sarah Marsh, Caleb’s parents, said they were proud of their son’s victory.
“He’s a great kid,” Eric Marsh said. “We were just really glad that he got to be a participant.”
Thus far, none of the students in the regional tournament have competed in a televised “Jeopardy” game, but Birge hopes one of the students makes it to the show in the future.
“I never had one get on the show yet, but I always try to encourage them to try to get on,” Birge said.
Marsh, along with nine additional school champions, will compete in the final game, the “Southern California ‘Jeopardy’ Tournament of Champions,” on June 13 at Hamilton Middle School.