Latest news with #GraniteStateChallenge
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
All they do is win, win, win at Merrimack High School
There's nothing trivial about Merrimack High School's success, students, teachers and parents say. And it's not just the Tomahawks' tenacious trivia team that triumphed for the first-ever three-peat in the New Hampshire high school TV quiz show 'Granite State Challenge' and dynastic fifth title in six years. The dominant big brains and talented students fan out over multiple avocations and disciplines. The Music Department had 19 All-State musicians and singers this year. The FIRST Robotics team recently made it to the World Championships, their third time in four years. The Science Olympiad team placed third in the state for its STEM expertise. Excellence is clearly not mutually exclusive at MHS. There's plenty of crossover and cross-pollination. Success begets success for kids in multiple specialties. Take for example, Erin Murray, a senior who captained the Granite State Challenge team this year and was on the team that won the title last year. Murray has also been selected for the New Hampshire Music Educators Association All-State Festival two years running as a vocalist. 'Honestly, at this point, I think we've created a culture around winning. Every year that excitement, that winning excitement rubs off on everyone else,' Murray said last week after the watch party for the Granite State Challenge championship on New Hampshire PBS. Tim Bevis, a senior captain of the FIRST Robotics team, known as Chop Shop 166, could've been on the Granite State Challenge team or perhaps even an all-state soloist as well, but there's only so much time in the day, he said. For him, the secret to Merrimack's success is dedicated teachers and an it-takes-a-village mentality that empowers students. 'The thing that it comes down to, from my perspective, is the teachers and mentors in those positions,' Bevis said. 'Dr. (Sara) Campbell, who runs the Granite State Challenge team, is incredibly dedicated to that and she passes that down to her students. Mr. (RJ) Beck and Mr. (Brendan) McWalter in the chorus and band department are incredibly dedicated to their job. And the students and the mentors here are incredibly dedicated to us (on FIRST Robotics).' Chop Shop 166 has a network of alumni, friends, parents, teachers and former coaches that continue to come back year after year. For the music department, this year has been especially rewarding with nine students making the All-State Festival for concert band, three students being selected for the orchestra, two students making the treble choir and five students making it onto the mixed choir after auditioning. 'A big part of our success is how strong our middle and elementary school programs are, especially our middle school band director, Holly Levine,' said Beck, the chorus director and music teacher. Last week, Merrimack Middle School's Levine was named the Outstanding Band Director of the Year by the New Hampshire Band Directors Association. McWalter, the high school band director, credited flexibility in the teachers' schedules to provide opportunities for real, one-on-one instruction and deeper individual lessons. He also praised the painstaking work of their predecessors, Patricia Cunningham and Ken Dugal. 'This program didn't just all of a sudden get here. We had teachers before us that really worked hard to build this program to where it is today,' said McWalter, who is in his second year at MHS. 'It was a long build.' School Board recognition The FIRST Robotics team was honored at last week's Merrimack School Board meeting, and Everett Olsen, the district's chief educational officer (superintendent) summed up the success of those students and other groups in the public school system. 'Sometimes taxpayers will use the terminology 'return on investment' and tonight was a prime example of the investment paying off in terms of some of the most outstanding students in the country right here,' Olsen said. School Board members said they will continue to honor the achievements of other student groups at upcoming meetings, but the list is long. Musical chops The All-State musicians at Merrimack High School include: Caoimhe Boyle Latzko, Rachael Cirillo, Ian Desilets, Jamie Halvorson, Leah Jobin, Paige Mason, Hikari McDowell, Colin Plumb and Dave Sharma. Plumb was also accepted as a tenor vocalist. McDowell and Sharma achieved the top scores for the tenor and baritone saxophones, respectively. Sean Jalbert, Ben Ricks and Owen Sabens made the All-State orchestra. Among the singers, Ava Lanier and Erin Murray were selected for the treble choir. Adelina Camerlin, Emmy Hartwell, Ben Pittman, Tristan Plumb and Simon Yasevich were part of the All-State mixed choir. Scientific swagger This was one of the most successful years in Chop Shop history with the team earning four medals and one blue banner. This year they won the Impact Award, the Engineering Inspiration Award, and finished as Event Finalist, twice. The team set new records, and were part of the winning alliance at the World Championships. Junior Laura Bevill of the FIRST Robotics team said the 'secret sauce' in Merrimack comes from the students pushing each other and being able to showcase their many different talents. FIRST Robotics has something for just about everybody from STEM skills to project management, communications and marketing. 'It's really about the ambition of the students,' she said. 'It takes a team to make something this good. It takes the efforts of every single person on this team to make something work.' Bevill said the best part of FIRST Robotics is the diversity of what students can learn. 'It's really all the opportunities you get, that fulfillment of just working and seeing what you put in can be put out right back to you like a boomerang, and being able to see the progression of people growing and gaining skills,' Bevill said. 'Being able to go from anywhere, from marketing standpoint to learning how a robot works.' For upcoming events or to learn more about Chop Shop 166, visit Unchallenged champs Led by teachers Campbell and Liz Dumais, the Granite State Challenge team doesn't rebuild, it reloads. Merrimack holds the GSC records for most championships (five) and most appearances (24) in the tournament. The Tomahawks easily dispatched the Tilton Rams, 570-310, in the championship, which aired May 15 on NHPBS but was taped in January. It was a tough task for students and parents not to let the news out until the final show. But that's become part of the routine and a running gag by Campbell, senior Maeve LaRock said. Every year Campbell has to hide her trophies for a while behind a poster with a different saying each year. This year, it read, 'Not a Trophy 5: Merrimack Strikes Back.' 'Everybody said, oh it was a rebuilding year for us. Yeah, it was a completely new team and I was completely new. I was excited to just go and do it all. Of course, there was a lot of pressure, but I was like, 'I'm going to do this. Let's go win,'' LaRock said. A senior, LaRock is also vice president of the Student Council and a former field hockey and lacrosse player. She plans to play rugby at the University of New Hampshire next year. Her best friend, Erin Murray, also had a little pressure on her shoulders in her second year on the team and as captain, and not just from her peers, from her own family. 'I have an older brother who was on the team for two years before me, and I have a younger brother who will hopefully be on the team next year. So, we have a little bit of a legacy going on,' Murray said. Campbell credited the kids' commitment to putting in the work, even one things like making sure they can buzz in faster than other teams to answer questions. Virtually no detail is too small for MHS to practice. 'It's the kids. I don't know if you noticed, but two of my kids who we were just celebrating, they're cleaning up now,' Campbell said after the team's championship watch party at the school. 'They asked where the broom was so they could clean up. That is entirely them and their parents. I have a little bit to do with it, but they're pretty much fully formed when they get to me.' Overall excellence Campbell said she's regularly amazed at how dedicated the kids are at MHS, and not just for Granite State Challenge. 'The students who have that work ethic tend to get involved in more than one thing, because they have a lot of passions. So they find those things that they love, and they get super-involved in all the things that they love,' Campbell said. 'I had a student one year who had the Science Olympiad, FIRST Robotics and a Quiz Bowl thing, all in one weekend. It was state-level competitions for all three. By the end, he was a little fried, but he was that involved and invested in all three of those things.' dpierce@
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New Hampshire high school trivia teams are up to the Granite State Challenge
We've all been there, right? Your opponent correctly spells the word 'broccoli' and now, it's up to you. You have one second to say the name of the beloved TV series and movie 'M*A*S*H' to force sudden-death overtime. All those hours of cramming and drilling have come down to the other 'three Rs' — recognition, recollection and reflexes. And the poise to treat triumph and disaster just the same. You're also a teenager. On television. On your birthday of all days. And your whole school is watching. Desmond Lee, the senior captain of Trinity High School's Granite State Challenge team, was seemingly destined to be in that spot. With his Pioneers behind, Lee answered three questions correctly in the final round, including buzzing in right as time expired to force a tiebreaker. Then Lee got a break and knew it when host Jon Cannon was about halfway through asking the question. 'In which Jane Austen novel will you find Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham?' Lee was the first to buzz in, answering with exuberance: 'Pride and Prejudice.' The Pioneers were now onto the semifinals, where they'll face Tilton on NHPBS on May 1. Granite State Challenge, NHPBS's high school quiz show, is now in its 41st year, having premiered on Jan. 30, 1984. Since then, more than 6,700 students have participated, and 136,000 questions have been asked by the likes of original host Tom Bergeron and cameo questioners Ken Burns and Stephen Colbert. Londonderry was the first of 21 New Hampshire high schools to win the championship. Merrimack has won three of the last four titles, and five other teams have won three titles each: Salem, Plymouth, Hanover, Alvirne and Winnisquam. Remaining bracket With the Trinity-Tilton semifinals already set, four other teams are still alive and vying for the last two spots in the semifinals. Perennial powerhouse Merrimack's quarterfinal match against ConVal will air April 17. Profile of Bethlehem will take on Bedford in the remaining quarterfinal match April 24. The winner of those two matches will face off May 8 in the semis. The championship will air May 15. All broadcasts start at 8:30 p.m. and are on New Hampshire PBS. For more details, visit All of the matches were prerecorded in January. The teams, their families and their schools have been sworn to secrecy. Trinity's wild ride The Pioneers are vying for the school's first championship after two previous trips to the finals in 2001 and 2004. Lee, who joined the team as an alternate his sophomore season, said this year has been special, especially the way the match against Plymouth ended. Four-year veteran Tyler Welch said he and his teammates have a few special ways to guess on the off chance they don't know an answer. For instance, if you're going to guess a name, just say, 'Williams.' 'This one time, we said, 'Williams' and they said, 'Correct.' So, we just lost it,' Welch said. Welch said he's had a few moments like that when he's buzzed in and drawn a blank for a second, only to offer seemingly random answers and be right. 'I had nothing going on and then all of a sudden, I just said an answer because saying something is better than saying nothing. I was just like, 'Bunny,' and he said, 'Correct.' Another time I said, 'Johnny Cash' and was correct,' Welch said. Meet the Pioneers: The Trinity team also features Long Nguyen and Teagan Hilliard, as well as alternate Madeleine Souza. Andrew Lavoie and Louis Sievers are the coaches. Tiltin' toward Tilton? Lex Condodemetraky, team captain for the Tilton Rams, created his small private school's Granite State Challenge team as part of his senior legacy project — a way for graduating students to leave something behind. Tilton on Granite State Challenge Tilton School will face off in the semifinals of Granite State Challenge on May 1. Front row, from left to right are Nathaniel Colon, Lex Condodemetraky and Niko Condodemetraky. In the back row, from left to right, are Sebastian DeVeaux, Jamie Scott and Turner Bottomley. 'I just got a couple of my friends and some people who were interested and put together a team of six people to go down and take the test,' Condodemetraky said of the qualifying test each team took to earn a spot in the 16-team televised field. 'We scored 81 out of 100, which was pretty great. When we found out we were going to be on TV, I mean, we were in awe. We were ecstatic.' He hopes that Tilton, with an enrollment of around 200, will continue to battle the big schools. Sure, being from a private school might give his team a perceived advantage, but school size evens the playing field, he said. 'We have 190 kids to get a team of five or six from. This week, we went up against Portsmouth, a school with more than 1,000,' Condodemetraky said. Tilton defeated Portsmouth on Thursday night to advance to play Trinity. Meet the Rams: Sebastian DeVeaux, Niko Condodemetraky, and Jamie Scott round out the roster with alternates Turner Bottomley and Nathaniel Colon. Keelan Mackenzie and Lauren Robinson coach Tilton. 'Mack is back Merrimack has won four out of the last five tournaments, losing to Portsmouth in the 2022 championship, and is looking for the only three-peat in Challenge history. The Tomahawks hold the record for most championships (four) and appearances (24). Merrimack on Granite State Challenge Maeve LaRock, second from left, turns to teammate Avis Clever as Merrimack High School competes in this year's Granite State Challenge. Liam MacIsaac is in the background. The Tomahawks have won four out of the last five championships for New Hampshire PBS's quiz show and are going for an unprecedented three-peat. Dr. Sara Campbell, one of the coaches, is married to her high school sweetheart and former GSC teammate, Bernie Campbell, who coaches their alma mater, Salem. Separately, they've built two of the best programs in the state. But with success comes the pressure of repeating, and that's where the kids' hard work pays off in terms of confidence and the ability to beat back emotions to recall answers. 'I definitely think that poise plays into it a good deal. It's one of the reasons why we practice so much and practice with buzzers,' she said. 'I think there was definitely a lot of pressure, of expectations that they felt. Especially (senior Erin Murray) having done this before and coming back now as captain.' Meet the Tomahawks: Liam MacIsaac, Maeve LaRock and Avis Clever round out the roster with alternates Hikari McDowell, Bridget Clark and Lauren Murby. Sara Campbell and Liz Dumais are the coaches. ConVal catches up The Peterborough-based Cougars have the unenviable task of taking on Merrimack in their bid to make the semifinals. ConVal advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Nashua South in March. ConVal on Granite State Challenge Ben Michaud, center, gestures while talking to Granite State Challenge host Jon Cannon, far right, as ConVal teammates Remy Kekuewa-Colon and Lukas Baker look on. ConVal will take on two-time defending champion Merrimack April 17 in the semifinals. Led by junior captain Lukas Baker, ConVal came from 40 points behind to beat the Purple Panthers, 330-310, in the final seconds. With less than 10 seconds left, Ben Michaud buzzed in with the winning answer to send the Cougars to the next round. Meet the Cougars: Remy Kekuewa-Colon and Brian Alonso round out the roster. Eric Bowman and Chris Heider coach ConVal. Bedford's young guns Bedford has fielded a team of all sophomores and freshmen this season. Coach Kelly Chausovsky said she wasn't sure what to expect from her inexperienced team. Bedford hadn't made the tournament since 2018. Bedford on Granite State Challenge From left to right, Tabitha Arp, Samantha Arp, Sumedh Godavarthy, Alina Chausovsky, Tristan Albano and Matthew Ruggiero of Bedford High School confer on a question during the taping of Granite State Challenge at New Hampshire PBS's studio in Durham. Bedford's team is made up entirely of sophomores and freshmen, who have led the Bulldogs to the quarterfinals. 'When this team pulled together this year, I think none of us knew enough to even have any expectations of how they would do,' she said. 'We just knew it was a really fantastic group of kids.' She and Sherry Arp agreed to be the 'adults in the room,' but the kids have done all the heavy lifting. 'We just had no idea how to prepare. I didn't know anything about it. I left it all up to the kids to drive the club forward themselves. So, they came up with categories for each of them to take on,' she said. 'It's been a delightful, surprising journey.' Meet the Bulldogs: Matthew Ruggiero, Tabitha Arp, Alina Chausovsky and Sumedh Godavarthy are on the roster along with alternates Samantha Arp and Tristan Albano. Kelly Chausovsky and Sherry Arp coach Bedford. Profile powers ahead After an early deficit, Profile defeated Bow, 380-130, to advance to the quarterfinals, where they will take on Bedford. With an enrollment of 141 and located in the White Mountains, Profile is the smallest school to make it this far in 2025. Profile on Granite State Challenge Profile teammates, Maddie Perkins, Moses Rolfe and Isaac Reeder share a fun moment while competing in the Granite State Challenge quiz show at New Hampshire PBS. Profile takes on Bedford in the semifinals on April 24. Against Bow, captain Maddie Perkins and Raiden Valentine paced the Patriots, who piled up points in the final round to ground the formidable Falcons. Meet the Patriots: Isaac Reeder and Moses Rolfe round out the roster with alternates Travis Locke and Marcus Hamilton. Jill Brewer coaches Profile. Hosts with the most Tom Bergeron, who went on to host 'Dancing with the Stars' and 'America's Funniest Home Videos,' among other national shows, started his game show hosting at NHPBS. He then handed off to Jim Jeannotte, who hosted from the mid-1980s until Jon Cannon took over in 2018. Cannon, 46, started watching the show as a kid and played for Belmont High School before heading to the University of New Hampshire, where he worked at NHPBS and Granite State Challenge as a student for three years. Jon Cannon of Granite State Challenge Granite State Challenge host Jon Cannon, right, chats with Portsmouth's Nolan Peters, Jack Hoium, Aadit Noble and Iliya Ramadanovic during the taping of the quarterfinals in Durham. He and a colleague started the GSC team at Bedford High School in 2010. Cannon now lives in Dunbarton and is a teacher at Bow High School. 'I feel like I've been part of Granite State Challenge in every capacity that you can be,' Cannon said. Cannon said he loves hosting the show now because instead of being a nervous fan, or player, or coach, he gets to be in awe of the best of the best in his home state. For Cannon, it's all about the students' experience. 'We want the kids to be their best selves. I always say we hope you had fun and hope you're glad you did this, and we're glad we had you,' he said. For the 16 teams that made it to the televised rounds, those experiences and episodes will live on in perpetuity and online at dpierce@
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Portsmouth Clippers triumph in first round of Granite State Challenge: Education news
DURHAM — The Portsmouth Clippers secured a victory against the Kingswood Knights in Round One of the Granite State Challenge, winning 390-190. The Knights team, led by 12th-grade captain Liam Moore, included fellow 12th-graders Jiner Zhuang, Samuel Keniston, and Spencer Clark, with alternates Eljay Sellinger-Blatt and Oliver Kolodner. English teacher John Struble coached the team. Kingswood Regional High serves seven towns and enrolls 804 students. The Clippers team featured 12th-grade captain Nolan Peters, 12th-grader Jack Hoium, and 11th-graders Iliya Ramadanovic and Aadit Noble. Their coach, reading and writing specialist Hannah Dul, guided the team with alternates Anthony Smith and Charlie Anderson. Portsmouth High School serves five towns and enrolls 1,087 students. Portsmouth's quick responses and teamwork propelled them to an early lead, which they maintained throughout the rounds. Despite strong efforts from Kingswood, including solid performances in the Three Strikes and You're Out and 60-Second rounds, the Clippers held their ground. Portsmouth Clippers now advance to the quarterfinals, where they will face Tilton School on April 10 at 8:30 p.m. on NHPBS. DOVER — Portsmouth Christian Academy's 30th annual auction is scheduled for Saturday, March 15. Doors will open at 8 a.m., with the live program kicking off at 8:45 a.m. This milestone event celebrates 30 years of PCA's largest fundraiser, which supports over half of the families through the school's Variable Tuition program."Many families want to come to PCA, but cannot due to finances," said Head of School Mike Runey. "Our approach is to come alongside families who have demonstrated need with Variable Tuition. Our annual auction is the primary way we raise funds to remove the financial obstacles to a PCA education."The event will feature online bidding, a silent auction, a breakfast buffet, a live auction, and a sponsor a child opportunity. Limited tickets are available for the breakfast, catered by Simply Elegant Catering. General Admission is open to the public. Attendees can bid on unique items such as a ride on a Dover Fire engine, a weekend in Kennebunk, tickets to see Riley Green and tour the WOKQ studio, a gourmet catered dinner experience, everything needed for a fun family field day, a full month at Camp Waziyatah, and much more. Preview the auction at Consider making a 100% tax-deductible donation to support PCA's Variable Tuition through Sponsor-a-Child. ELIOT, Maine — Nellie Young, a member of Marshwood High School's Interact Club, has raised over $16,000 to support early childhood education in Pachacamac, Peru. Inspired by her visit to Peru, Young launched the "Giving Hope to My Little Talents – Nursery" project at age 15. Over the past year, she secured funding through Rotary clubs in Maine and New Hampshire, resulting in the construction of a new classroom for children ages 2 to 5 and a renovated space for 1 to 2-year-olds. Her campaign received significant backing, including a $4,000 grant from Rotary District 7780. Earlier this year, Young visited Peru with her father to see the impact of her efforts, meeting with the Rotary Club of Pachacamac and delivering gifts to the children. 'This experience has strengthened my belief in the power of Rotary and service,' Young said. 'Seeing the children's smiles and knowing that this project will provide them with better opportunities is something I will carry with me forever.' This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth Clippers shine in Granite State Challenge: Education news
Boston Globe
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
New Hampshire high schoolers compete in TV quiz show, now in its 43rd season
But when asked where actress Cynthia Nixon, who played Miranda on 'Sex and the City,' ran for governor, senior Reagan Sutherland got it wrong. She said California. The right answer was New York. Advertisement And when asked which US Supreme Court decision in 1966 established the 'Miranda rights' that police read when they arrest someone, senior Max Shamansky failed to come up with 'Miranda v. Arizona' — which earned Plymouth Regional's third strike and ended their second round. Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up The Prospect Mountain Timberwolves gained ground in the fourth and final round, thanks in large part to ninth-grader Lucas Lund, who answered four questions correctly, including a 40-point video question about the formerly enslaved 19th century abolitionist, writer, and orator Frederick Douglass. Teams from Plymouth Regional High School and Prospect Mountain High School join host Jon Cannon, a social studies teacher at Bow High School, on the set of New Hampshire PBS's "Granite State Challenge," a TV quiz show for high schoolers, during the taping of the 2025 season's first episode, which aired Thursday. New Hampshire PBS Spoiler alert: Plymouth Regional's team clung to their lead until the end and won 360-220, advancing to the next stage of the tournament. The show's host, Jon Cannon, is a social studies teacher at Bow High School who previously competed on the Granite State Challenge himself. He asks questions on a wide range of topics, from history and literature to math and science, pop culture, and more. The video questions include some notable cameos as well, including from TV personality Tom Bergeron, who was the first host of the show, organizers said. New Hampshire PBS President and CEO Peter A. Frid said this show, now in its 43rd season, is 'exciting' and fully aligns with the station's ethos by 'celebrating academic excellence and encouraging students to challenge themselves intellectually.' Advertisement Sixteen teams from high schools across New Hampshire are competing in the tournament, after qualifying last fall through a written test and wildcard games. New episodes are set to air weekly on New Hampshire PBS and This story first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you'd like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, Steven Porter can be reached at
