FRAMINGHAM, MA – On Monday, May 17, 2010, four students from Framingham High School delivered a painful 425 to 25 defeat to Boston Collegiate on WGBH TV’s “High School Quiz Show”.

The four FHS students; David Kruger, Indiana Jones, Benjamin Rosen and Steve Lessard had alternates Michelle Cunningham and Jason Harding waiting in the wings, ready if called — but their help was not needed.

At this stage of the competition, each episode pits two Eastern Massachusetts high school teams against each other in a show of knowledge.  The game is organized into four rounds; the Toss-Up, Head-to-Head, Category and Lightening [rounds].

In round 1, the “Toss-Up”, all players from either team can buzz in and answer questions. If a player answers correctly, the team gets points — but in this round there is no penalty for wrong answers.

The first few questions seemed easy enough; “Who assassinated Abraham Lincoln?“, (John Wilkes Booth), and “Name the paper used to test for the presence of acids and alkali.“, (Litmus Paper). But then got harder with questions from mathematics, history, geography and pop culture.

While neither team knew the name of the Prime Minister of Canada or which 1959 U.S. made car was so joked about, (the Edsel), FHS was unstoppable in the Toss-Up, answering questions about the first Female Prime Minister of a Muslim country, complimentary angles, Jonas Salk, NATO, the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, Egyptian pharaohs , Aztec rulers, the Missouri Compromise and so many other subjects. To see that these kids had acquired so much knowledge, (and in the Framingham Public School system to boot), was amazing.

At the end of the first round Framingham’s 210 points to Boston’s 20 left many in the live studio audience silent (apparently in disbelief) .

Each successive round left Boston Collegiate further and further behind. In the Head-to-Head round, FHS picked up another 50 points, and Boston only gained 10 leaving the score at 260 to 30 with two rounds to go. Before the third round, (the “Category” round), Boston pulled one team member and sent in an alternate.

The strategy didn’t seem to phase Framingham, as they stole control of the board on the first question, then switched categories to Shakespeare and never looked back.

It appears FHS students need to spend a bit more time listening to Classic Rock, as the “It’s Only Rock & Roll” category seemed to be a weak suit.  The team missed questions about basic rock lore including Beatles lyrics, when Nixon Meets Elvis and Milli Vanilli lip-syncing. Still, FHS maintained their lead with the score at the end of the third round at 345 to 35.

In the final Lightening Round, where teams gain or lose 10 points for each rapid fire question, Framingham High picked up another 80 points and Boston Collegiate lost 10, leaving the final score at Framingham 425 and Boston 25.

The FHS team got the highest score to date (of any team) and will hopefully hold onto the spot in future eliminations of teams vying for the state championship.

Additional information and video of other episodes of High School Quiz Show can be found at: www.wgbh.org/quizshow

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