Belmont High School students Andrew Gao, Ruizhao Sun, Ali Gilani, and Victor Lisanke are competing in GBH’s High School Quiz Show this year, the 11th time Belmont High School has fielded a team.
The episode featuring Belmont’s team premieres on March 8 at 6 p.m. on GBH and the High School Quiz Show YouTube channel.
According to GBH Executive Producer and Director of Youth Media Hillary Wells, High School Quiz Show started 16 years ago to showcase academic achievement. The idea for the show was born from the lack of media recognition for students with a strong academic interest.
“It’s not always cool to be the one that’s really interested in academics and some of the people who come are really marginalized for one reason or another in their schools or just don’t feel like they kind of have their people,” Wells said. “And so I hear that a lot from participants, they’ve sort of found their community or they’ve found their people and that it’s a place where academic success and interest is celebrated in a way that is OK.”
Format
The show is divided into four rounds, with increasing difficulty levels. Students are encouraged to work individually and as a team, which Wells said was a shift in the gameplay in recent years “to allow the sort of team orientation over individual orientation” so that just one team member does not dominate the game. Each correct answer is worth 10 points. After the first round, wrong answers cost the team 10 points.
Meet the Belmont Players
“I really love the trivia-type shows that we’re part of,” said Gao. “A lot of us are part of this club called Belmont Quizbowl, which is slightly different than the quiz show, but it’s some of the same like academic content and we really enjoy it. I’ve been doing this since sixth grade. This is my first time on the show. I’ve watched a lot, but this is my first time actually being here in person. I am feeling a bit nervous but very excited.”
According to their coach, Beth Manca, the students self-selected while together in the Belmont Quizbowl tournament.
“They are very independent and very self-sufficient. My advice to them was to chill out, be calm and show everybody what you know,” Manca said, “I just wanted everybody to have fun and enjoy themselves and this was their first time under the lights…but I think they did a very good job.”
Sun and Gao said it was a “beautiful” experience being in front of the cameras and getting to see how the show was set up.
YouTube Fuels Growth
The audience for the show has also expanded over 16 years from avid GBH viewers to people all around the world through the YouTube channel. Organizers receive feedback from audiences spanning generations, from young people aspiring to be on the show to grandparents, parents and school administrators.
“So there’s this really broad cross-section of the community that’s following us, year over year, committed to the show and to the same kinds of mission-centered things that we’re looking at about community building and, again, showcasing and celebrating academic interest,” Wells said. “I also just think it’s sort of public media at its best. Celebrating community in a way that is very powerful and exciting and palpable.”
