Three Uniontown Area High School students showed off their "Hometown High Q" on local television.
Tom Colebank, their principal, said the idea to have the students appear on the quiz show, televised on KDKA-TV, came from the students' desire to get more involved in scholastic competitions.
Colebank contacted KDKA to find out how the school could participate and then went on the lookout for students.
"I heard about it on the announcements," said senior Mike Dvorchak, who appeared on the show along with junior Brandy Risha and senior David Bobish.
In October, about 23 students tried out for the show. They each filled out an application that required them to list their grades, assessment test results, clubs and local quiz bowl scores. They took a written test containing 25 questions that had to be completed in 10 minutes.
"There was a lot of history, literature and science," Dvorchak said.
When taking the test and running into the more difficult questions, Risha started to wonder if the test would be the end of her journey to the quiz show. She did well on the test, however, and found out that there was a lot more to do before stepping in front of the cameras.
Six students were chosen from the 23 applicants; three as contestants and three alternates for the show. They practiced two times a week for four week at the high school with a teacher quizzing them for 90 minutes,
Dvorchak said he, Risha and Bobish were picked to be on the show because of their qualifications and how well the trio worked together.
The group headed to Gateway Center in Pittsburgh in November for the taping of the show. Their weeks of practice were put to the test in the span of an hour.
"It went really fast," Risha said. "We only had a minute and a half for each commercial break."
The local students were competing against McGuffey and Aquinas Academy high schools. Each school begins with 100 points, earning points for every correct answer and losing points for every incorrect answer, for four rounds.
The episode with the Uniontown students aired on Jan. 6 and will air again at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 13 on KDKA. The episode also can be viewed online on KDKA's Web site at http://kdka.com/highq
For those who have not watched the episode, the following contains how the students did:
"We got crushed in the last round, and that was disappointing," Risha said.
Uniontown Area High School came in second place with 390 points; McGuffey came in first place with 590 points; and Aquinas Academy came in third with 370 points.
"It was exciting to be in front of the cameras and to be in the competition," Dvorchak said. "It made me feel important."
"It's strange to see yourself on television," Bobish said. "But it felt good to be chosen to be there."
Risha agreed that it was strange to see herself on television, but she soon wound up making fun of her appearance and the team missing the question: Identify the author of the book "The Green Mile."
"If we would have answered that one, we would have been in much better shape," Dvorchak said.
Although they came in second, Colebank said he was pleased the students did well enough for Uniontown Area to be invited back next year for another episode.
"They represented Uniontown well," Colebank said. "This is why you become a teacher. It's not about earning a paycheck, but to see your students achieve."
