Herricks advances to round 2 of ‘Challenge’

Richard Tedesco

Following their first-round victory, the academic team from Herricks High School is moving on to Round 2 of “The Challenge,” an academic quiz show designed to test students’ knowledge in a “Jeopardy”-style format.

Herricks is represented by five seniors, including its team captain, Akhil Sharma, James Bhadias, Julie Chang, Neil Pathak, and Edward Vargas. Chang, Pathak and Vargas were semi-finalists in the Intel Talent Search this year.

This is the second straight year that this Herricks team has competed in the student quiz show. Last year, they fell short of making the second round.

Jeremy Cohen, the team’s faculty advisor and a mathematics teacher at Herricks, said the team did more preparation before the competition this year.

“We went over a lot of questions and talked over certain strategies,” Cohen said.

He said the win was a team effort, but singled out Vargas as the star of the first round.

“They all helped out but the one contributed the most was Edward Vargas. He’s very good in these situations,” Cohen said.

This season the students are competing in front of a live audience.

The second round match-up between all-star student scholars from Herricks High School and Syosset High School will air in high definition on Sunday, April 3, at 5:30 p.m. on MSG Varsity (Cablevision’s iO TV – Channel 14). MSG Varsity features new episodes of “The Challenge” every Sunday through Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Subjects on the quiz show include history, arts and literature, current events, math, and science. An initial round of questions is posed with multiple choice answers, subsequent rounds are short answer, including the lightning round, when response speed is a key factor and the ‘180′ round, when a team answering one question correctly earns the right to answer the next question as the point values spiral. Answering the second question in a ‘180′ sequence incorrectly throws the question to the other team.

Jared Cotter, former FUSE TV host and a popular semi-finalist from “American Idol,” serves as moderator of “The Challenge,” quizzing competing high school teams on their knowledge of history, arts and literature, current events, math, and science.

“These students are extremely bright and determined to win,” said Theresa Chillianis, General Manager, MSG Varsity. “We wish Herricks High School and Syosset High School good luck in their upcoming match.”

“The Challenge” began as a Long Island effort 14 years ago and now includes 184 high schools from the entire tri-state area – Long Island (with Nassau and Suffolk as two distinct regions), the Bronx, Brooklyn, Westchester/Lower Hudson Valley, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Schools advance in the tournament through a series of elimination rounds. After months of competition, one school in each region is crowned regional champion, winning $2500 for their school. The final winning teams from each region go on to “The Challenge Championship” where they square off against on another in a tri-state showdown. The school crowned tri-state champion will receive $10,000 in prize money and each student participating in the final Challenge Championship game will receive $500.

The show has received a Beacon Award – the industry’s highest award for public affairs excellence – as well as a New England Cable and Telecommunications Award for Public Service and Excellence in Cable Television.

A complete listing of schools participating in “The Challenge” is available at HYPERLINK “https://www.msgvarsity.com/www.msgvarsity.com.

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